Dimensional Detour
by Julia451
Summary: Set during "Beyond the Wilds" & after "D-Stabilized." Korra turns down Zaheer's offer and keeps trying to reach the Spirit World on her own, ending up in a different world. She meets a boy with strange powers and discovers they have *a lot* in common, but can he help her overcome the block that's been holding her back? That'll have to wait 'til they fight some other enemies first.
1. An Accident

"I think I can help. Let me lead you into the Spirit World."

I didn't take the words seriously, at first. I responded automatically, "No way. I can't trust you."

"Maybe not. But if you had any other options, you wouldn't be here now, would you? We may have been enemies once, but for now, our interests align."

I stood there frozen, thinking of Kuvira and all the provinces she held enslaved, Suyin and her family her prisoners, how useless I now was to all of them. Of Jinora trapped in the Spirit World, waiting for me to rescue her, when I had neither the knowledge nor the power to so much as reach her, let alone help her. Wasn't it my duty to take the risk if it could help Jinora and the rest of the Earth Kingdom? I had to think of them, not myself. It was the only way to save those I loved...

As I prepared to answer, to accept his offer, my mind came back to the present, its focus shifting from thoughts of Jinora and the other prisoners to the sight of Zaheer. I stared at the man who had tortured me, ruined me, violated me as thoroughly as if he'd raped me. The question of trust was no longer an issue. As I remembered what he did to me and my body, I realized there was no way I would let him near me again. Whatever his motives, whatever his intentions, it wasn't possible for him to help me. After what he'd put me through, he could only do me harm; neither my body nor my spirit could receive any comfort or guidance from him, no matter what he or I wanted. After all the pain he'd caused me, pain was all he could bring me. A woman couldn't receive comfort from her rapist, no matter how skilled he was at comforting others.

Finally, I said in a blank voice, "It won't work." He didn't respond as I turned and left. So much for that plan.

Mako didn't say anything until we were back aboveground, outside. He waited until we took a few steps away from the prison before asking, "So what happened?"

"Nothing. Complete waste of time."

"Did you face him?"

"I saw him. I talked to him. Didn't do any good," I sighed at last. "I thought this would help, but..."

Mako waited until my voice trailed off before asking, "Did he say anything to you?"

I laughed. "He offered to help me meditate into the Spirit World!"

Mako's eyes widened in shock. "After what he did to you? How could he do that?!"

I knew he meant _How dare he be so arrogant and callous to think you'd accept such an offer after what he did to you?_ , but I answered as if he meant it literally. "He couldn't. He tried to get me to trust him, but it didn't matter. It would never work. There was no point in trying." I felt sick as I imagined willingly placing myself in control of that monster, my spirit submitting to him... Never!

Mako took a step towards me, his arm outstretched, but I took a step away, and he drew back – I couldn't bear the thought of him touching me at that moment. With my face turned away from him, I heard him say, "Forget about him, Korra. We'll find another way."

"How?" I asked softly. I couldn't save Jinora, let alone stop Kuvira, until I was fully healed – that problem hadn't changed. What was I missing? What I was I supposed to do about it?

How did someone recover from something like this? I knew I wasn't the first person in history to suffer, but I honestly couldn't think of anyone who had been through what I had that day in the mountain. There were no stories of another Avatar being trapped in an utterly helpless position and ruthlessly tortured by her arch enemy in an attempt to force her into the Avatar State. How did I make that feeling of powerlessness go away? Nobody could seem to tell me; they either wanted me to give up so I wouldn't risk hurting myself worse, or shake it off and forget about it – they didn't understand what it did to me. No matter how supportive those who loved me were, they didn't know how it felt to go through that.

I realized now _that_ was what I wanted more than anything – to find someone who understood what I'd been through, who knew how it felt because she'd been through it herself, and, most importantly, could tell me how she'd fought back and what I needed to do to heal once and for all. I needed to know I wasn't alone, that I wasn't the only person who'd ever been made to feel this way, that there was hope for me, that I wouldn't be like this forever. And as far as I and every human and spirit I'd met knew, there was no one like that in the world.

It was as pointless a wish as it was cruel. Why dwell on it? I shook my head and straightened up. "It doesn't matter. I tried. I'll never need to see him again."

"Good," said Mako. "So what's next?"

"I try again." I sat down on the ground right where I was and assumed the position.

Mako stepped up to me. "What do you mean?"

"I just keep trying until I'm able to break through this block and get into the Spirit World."

"You sure it works that way?"

"I don't know, no one does!" I snapped furiously, not at him, but at Zaheer, which I hoped Mako knew. "But it can't last forever. If I keep trying, it has to wear off eventually." I sounded as desperate as I felt. "I don't care if it takes another three years. I just won't stop until I can meditate into the Spirit World again." I could be more stubborn than some stupid vision!

"Do what you have to do. I'll keep an eye on you."

I looked up at him, wishing I could say something better than, "Thank you, Mako." I took a deep breath and faced forward. "Here we go again." I closed my eyes.

I tried to clear my mind, do nothing different than what Tenzin and Jinora had taught me, not think about what was coming... what I would see when I opened my eyes... who would be there again... The familiar sensation of my soul leaving my body. The upward rush. The lightness. The calm. I waited longer than usual before opening my eyes...

"Aaah!"

"What happened?" Mako asked once I'd caught my breath.

"The same thing," I answered truthfully. "No difference." Zaheer was still there, as I'd figured he would be.

To my immense relief, Mako didn't ask me for details. Talking about Zaheer sucking the air out of my lungs was the last thing I wanted to do. "You still want to try again?"

"I have to." I shook my head, pushed my hair behind my ears, and folded my hands again. I felt my pulse quicken as I closed my eyes. _Don't do it – it'll happen again_. But what choice did I have? _I'm ready for you this time, Zaheer._ Maybe if I prepared myself to face him, I could beat the vision this time. I braced myself as I sent my spirit from my body. As soon as I knew I was through, I opened my eyes and immediately thrust my fist forward. But I couldn't Bend here any more than I could in the Spirit World...

I pounded my right fist into the ground, grunting in frustration at myself, when I returned. "You all right?" Mako asked fearfully.

"I'm fine. Don't worry, nothing happened. Nothing different."

"Maybe this isn't a good idea..." Mako said timidly.

"It's not, but you got any better ones?" I replied weakly.

"Maybe if you take a break, try again later..."

"We don't have time." I couldn't stop until I made it through this block. Jinora's life might depend on it.

"Isn't there any way I can help?"

"There's nothing you can do." _You or anyone else_. No one could help me. I was on my own here. But it didn't matter; I had to do it.

I took another deep breath and prepared to meditate again. What could I do differently this time? Not thinking about him didn't work, thinking about him didn't work... I tried doubling my focus on my goal – the Spirit World – but that stopped me from getting anywhere altogether. What did I expect? I knew thinking too hard was the surest way of sabotaging meditation!

I sat there with my eyes still closed and my hands still folded, silently seething, no longer even trying to meditate, just hoping Mako wouldn't notice anything. I tried to think of anything Tenzin, Jinora, Toph, _anyone_ had taught me for situations like this – no answers came. I wished Tenzin were here to help me now. Or Aang...

 _Aang_ , I said in my mind, _Raava, anyone, if you can hear me, I need help_. I prayed to any spirit who would hear me, _I'm trapped. I don't know what to do. You've helped me before. Please help me now. Show me how to fight through this, how to do what I need to do. I don't care what happens to me – Jinora needs my help. Please show me how to save her. How do I beat this? If there's anything that can cure me, show it to me now. Please send me some sign, some answer, something or someone who can fix me. Please..._

Half my brain continued to plead for help as I meditated, my focus on the Spirit World but my heart anticipating the inevitable meeting with Zaheer. I'd do anything to stop myself from seeing him again, ANYTHING! I hated knowing he had this power over me! _Don't get angry_. I had to stay calm, or I'd see him again... _No, anything but that. Please, send me anywhere but back there..._

In spite of the turmoil in my mind, I felt my spirit begin to leave my body again. My prayer became all the more urgent – _anywhere but back there, anywhere but back there... Spirits, please guide me where I need to go_. That was my one wish as I left my body and the world behind. I let my spirit fly free, gave myself over to the rush, surrendered to the pull of the other world, willing myself in the back of my mind not to stop on that mountaintop again...

This time, I was conscious of something else – something trying to pull me away. I didn't speak or move or look, but I felt myself screaming, _Let me go! Stop! Somebody, anybody, help me, please!_

As suddenly as it had started, the feeling was gone – whatever had tried to pull me down had released me. I could sense myself going on – where I didn't know, but I felt I was going far, like a bird flying faster and higher and farther than I'd ever flown before. A rush of motion, a whirlwind of air, a sensation of dizziness and falling, and then it stopped, and all was still. The journey was over.

Had I made it this time? I was too afraid to open my eyes. I listened but couldn't hear anything helpful (but of course, I never did). I didn't move a muscle or say a word. What would he do if I did nothing? Maybe if I didn't see him when he attacked me, something would change, end differently...

The longer I remained still, the more I realized I was being stupid. I couldn't stay like this forever. Worst case scenario, it would be horrifying, but it would be over soon. Trembling like a leaf in the wind, I opened my eyes.

What I saw made me gasp. I wasn't on the mountaintop. I wasn't in the Spirit World. I had no idea where I was.


	2. An Encounter

I was standing on a piece of rock that seemed to be floating in midair. Other hunks of rock drifted through the air around me, from the size of dining tables to floating islands. I could see trees, clouds, or mountains on the big ones, some even with what seemed to be gates or signs on one side, although I couldn't read anything from here. There was no sun, sky, or ground – had it not been for the position of my head and feet, I couldn't say what was up or down. It was colder than it had been outside the prison, but the air felt denser, almost sticky, like on a hot, humid day. Although I could see no light source, it wasn't dark – my surroundings were perfectly visible, but seemed distorted, more fluid than solid, and the atmosphere between the floating land masses was bright, emerald green. I couldn't decide if everything was surrounded in a glowing green mist or if the air itself was colored green. Had it been a painting, I would have called it beautiful, but standing within it, I felt nothing but confusion.

I held up my arms and looked at both sides of my hands, looked down and felt my torso and hips, stamped my feet. I looked and felt normal. As I surveyed the bizarre area around me again, I whispered to myself, "Where am I? What happened?" Since this definitely wasn't the spot where I'd sat down, I must have left my body, but I felt as solid as I always did when my spirit was in the Spirit World. Had I come to a part I'd never been to before? But nothing I'd read or heard described a part of the Spirit World that looked like this.

As a test, I pulled my right arm back and flung my fist forward. A burst of flame shot out of it. Well, if my Bending worked, I definitely wasn't in the Spirit World. The rock was small enough for me to see I wasn't on the back of a Lionturtle, either. Something must have gone wrong when I'd meditated, but what? How? Where had I ended up?

I looked and listened for a minute, as if I expected this mysterious place to answer my questions. When I concentrated, I could hear distant but unidentifiable sounds; one second, I thought they sounded like far-off moaning or screaming; the next, like wind blowing, or a swarm of flapping wings. I looked for movement or other signs of life around me but could find none. I felt completely alone. Nevertheless, I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out, "Hello! Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me? Hello!" No answer, but I thought I heard the sounds become louder and faster, as if my voice had given them a sense of urgency.

But nothing I saw or heard told me what had happened or where I was. I was wasting time; I had to get back. My eyes were half-closed before they shot open again as a new fear shot through me: what if I _couldn't_ get back? I knew something went wrong – what if something went wrong _again_ as I tried to return? In a move that would have stunned my younger self, I decided not to risk it. First, I'd figure out what I'd done, then I would try to undo it, but not until I definitely knew how to get back to my body from here. In spite of the situation, I couldn't resist grinning as I imagined how triumphant Tenzin would feel if he knew how cautious I was being.

But what was I supposed to do? The piece of rock I'd landed on wasn't big enough to take four steps in any direction. I rotated where I stood, looking up and down, and saw behind and below me, about fifty feet away, a thickly forested land that I could see no end of. That certainly looked more stable and more accessible than anything else around me. It was too far to jump, but if my Bending worked here, I could make it. Since there wasn't enough room to get a running start, I stepped to the edge of the rock, spun my arms around, and jump-spun off the edge, propelling myself upward on a blast of wind.

I went farther and higher than I usually did with that move. When I started falling, I raised my arms to prepare a cushion of air to slow me down but noticed I was falling so slowly, it didn't seem necessary. I held my arms out as I floated down in an arc, picking up speed a little, finally spinning to create a sphere of air below me that I bounced on once before landing on the ground in a crouch.

Before I stood up, I felt the ground with the fingers of my right hand. It felt normal. To be sure, I raised my hand, and a piece broke out and followed along, just like any rock. I let it drop and swiped my left hand through the air. Water drops clung to my fingers. I concentrated and, in a few seconds, I had a short stream of water trailing behind my fingers, condensed from the air just like back home. Four out of four.

Not needing it at the moment, I let the water fall and strolled into the forest, more curious than afraid but always on my guard. After walking a few paces with no signs of anyone, I called out, "Hello? Can anyone hear me? I mean you no harm! I'm lost!" Again, no answer. I tried saying, "This is Avatar Korra! Can anyone tell me where I am?" Still no response. If anything, I was sure I heard sounds of feet and wings rushing away, as if trying to escape this forest, but I couldn't see what was making them.

The shape of the forest looked normal to me, the trees shaped just like the ones I'd seen in the Earth Kingdom. It was the colors of the bark and leaves that were odd – green, black, purple. Regardless of color, everything seemed wreathed in a faint glow, as if everything in this place produced its own light. I walked on, trying to pinpoint the source of the distant moans and screams and running I kept hearing, but they sounded more like echoes, surrounding me from all sides. The place wasn't quiet so much as full of sounds so remote, it was impossible to pick one out.

I don't know how long I walked before two sounds finally stood out – a hard impact and a grunt of pain – making me jump. I stood still and listened – more crashing, pounding, colliding, more grunts of effort, yells of anger, blasts of fire or lightning... I'd recognize sounds like that anywhere: there was a fight nearby. The conflicting instincts to flee and investigate made me head toward the noise slowly, braced for attack, creeping between the trees in hope I wouldn't be seen.

I followed the sounds until I came to the edge of the strange woods. From behind a tree, I saw a clear space surrounded on three sides by forest and on one (to my left) by a big rock, possibly the side of a sheer cliff. The sounds were off to my right, and I was about to move that way when a figure came shooting out of the forest and skidded along the ground, leaving a deep groove in the earth before coming to a stop a few feet from the rock. In a blast of red light, another figure flew out from the same direction. The first figure got to its feet just as its pursuer reached it.

There was such a barrage of flashing red and green lights that I couldn't make the combatants out clearly except to tell that there were only two, one rather large and one rather small. I wanted to get closer to get a better look. Since they were far too busy to notice me if I stayed out of the way, I crept out from behind my tree, my Airbender training with me, and silently made my way to behind a large rock near the foot of the cliff. Just as I was taking up my new position, the larger figure shot four bright, silvery blasts out of some weapon in its hand. The smaller figure grunted as it was flung back against the wall of rock.

When the dust and lights faded, I could finally see clearly who I was watching. The one against the cliff was a young boy, slender, medium height, white hair, dazzling green eyes, dressed in what looked like a ninja uniform with no hood with a character on his chest I didn't recognize. His attacker had a build like a grown man (his body seemed human in shape, but I couldn't be sure because it was hidden from neck to toe by a white uniform), but he couldn't be a human, with a head like a skeleton's and glowing, green, pupiless eyes. He didn't look like any spirit I'd ever seen, but what else could he be? What was going on here?

The boy struggled violently, but his wrists and ankles seemed to be held to the cliff by glowing silver bands of metal, binding him to the rock in an X-shape. "If I keep getting trapped in this position, I'm gonna get stuck this way someday," I heard him say; his voice sounded young but strong and calm.

"Don't worry – this is the last time anyone will need to catch _you_." His opponent's voice made me shiver. The spirit held up the bizarre-looking weapon he'd just fired. "I'd ask you to tell your folks congratulations on the new invention, but I don't think you're gonna get the chance," he said before tossing it aside.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," the boy said sarcastically. "Why are you wasting our time, Walker? We both know your prison can't hold me."

"True," the other one... Walker said, his smug grin not altering a fraction. "Guess I'll just have to use this." He pulled out another, bigger band of metal from inside his coat. It looked a lot like the collars people in Republic City put on poodleponies, except there were so many strange parts on it.

Whatever it was, it made the boy narrow his eyes and grit his teeth. As Walker held out the collar and stepped towards him, the boy said, "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you."

"You mean, like this?," his captor asked, taking one step forward as if to mock him.

"Have it your way!" Suddenly, the sound of some cross between an explosion and an earthquake ripped through the air. I knelt down and covered my ears, but the sound stayed as strong and painful as ever. The air and the ground beneath my feet rumbled like I was standing on a giant tuning fork. It was all I could do not to fall over. I never knew any noise could be this loud! Was the boy the one doing this? How? What kind of power was this?

Somehow, over the din, I heard Walker yell, "Go ahead! Use up all your energy! Keep this up, and you'll be out of power in no time!" The boy must have thought he was right because, instantly, the sound stopped. I stood up, looked around my rock again, and saw the boy glaring at his enemy, Walker a little unsteady on his feet, but, otherwise, neither of them the worse for wear..

"The more stunts you pull, the harder it's gonna be for you." Walker sounded calm, but in spite of the threat, I noticed he approached his prisoner much more slowly, as if wary of what he might try next.

The boy sounded the more confident of the two when he said, "That _might_ be cause for concern... except there's no way I'm going back to your prison."

Walker stopped and grinned at him. "Prison? That would be a waste, wouldn't it? I got bigger plans for you, ghost boy..." Ghost? "Once we're done here, I've got plenty more fugitives to track down, thanks to you. And I've decided to give you the honor of rounding them up for me."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise – he obviously hadn't expected to hear that. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you'd be pleased – catching ghosts is what you do best."

The boy narrowed his eyes again. "If you think I'm gonna help you catch..." He stopped when Walker held up the collar again.

"You won't have a choice. In five minutes, you're gonna do everything I say... or else."

From the moment I first saw the boy trapped, in the back of my mind, I'd vaguely hoped to see him escape, but it wasn't until this point that I had to resist the urge to jump out and rush between them. This was none of my business; I shouldn't even be watching, but getting involved would be too rashly foolish even for me. What would I do? I didn't even know which side to take. For all I knew, the boy could be an escaped criminal who deserved to be captured, and my helping him would put innocent lives in danger. Wan's unfortunate first encounter with Raava and Vaatu played vividly in my mind. Did I want to make the same mistake he did? I had to stay out of it. I told myself I should just leave, but I couldn't pull myself away.

"You can torture me all you want – I'm not gonna work for you!" The boy didn't sound the least bit intimidated. The more I saw, the more he impressed me. I couldn't deny how much I wanted him to escape. _Stay put, Korra_ , I ordered myself, straining to keep still.

"That's what Wulf said, too. In the beginning. Want to know how long that lasted?"

The boy grinned back at him. "Until I helped him escape from you?"

"Too bad there's no one to save _you_ , hero." I clapped my hand over my mouth to muffle the growl of frustration I couldn't suppress.

"You can't keep me here forever," the boy said defiantly. "And when I get out of here, my friends'll..."

Walker laughed at him again. "Too bad you're never gonna see those friends of yours again. You're never going back to your world, punk." If he did anything, I couldn't see it, but the collar in his hand lit up. "Once I get this on you, you're mine. And with you in my army, I'll have this whole ghost zone under my control in no time." My urge to incinerate this guy grew stronger every second, but I still held myself back. I couldn't risk it, I couldn't be sure...

The boy struggled against his bonds again. _Come on, come on_ , I silently urged him, hoping he would get free. Instead, he must have realized that was no good because he gave up and said, "You really think _that_ can hold me?"

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to keep someone in line with the push of a button." Walker looked like he was enjoying this way too much for someone noble stopping someone evil...

The boy scoffed. "I've been through worse. I can take it." _Don't even think about it, Korra_ , I had to warn myself again.

"I look forward to seeing it," Walker told him. They were only a few feet apart now, but if the boy was worried, he still refused to show it. If anyone wanted to interfere, this was their last chance...

"Eh... can't be any worse than the last electric torture I went through," the boy said with a shrug.

Chuckling again, Walker held the collar towards his prisoner's throat. "Trust me, kid, you don't know what torture is."

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to stop this. Whether it was right or wrong, I couldn't bear to let it go on. I jumped out and screamed, "Stop!" before shooting a blast of air between them. I ran halfway towards them before stopping in a Bending stance. "Who are you? What's going on here?!" I demanded.

They both turned at my interruption. "What the... _Huh_?!" Walker exclaimed when he saw me.

The boy was definitely the more shocked of the two. "Where did... whoah..." was all he managed to say before he was stricken speechless. In spite of the situation, I couldn't help but notice the familiar direction his gaze traveled before returning to my face. "I've had dreams like this before, but..."

Walker cut him off. "Who is she?!"

"How should I know?"

Walker turned back to me. "Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

"I'm the Avatar, and I want to know what right you have to do this to him," I said firmly.

They must not have believed me because their expressions didn't change. All Walker answered was, "I don't know who you think you are, Theavatar, but I'm a little busy here, so if you know what's good for you, move along. This doesn't concern you."

Was that supposed to be funny? "I'm not going anywhere until I know what's happening." I couldn't blame anyone for not respecting my authority, not anymore, but that didn't change my responsibility.

"This is none of your business," was the only answer I got. "And if you don't do as I say, you're gonna be sorry." Walker's voice was low, but his eyes seemed to blaze with red fury. "Now beat it!"

The boy had been watching him, the first time I'd seen him look genuinely afraid, but turned to face me again. "Whoever you are, get out of here! You don't know what you're doing!"

"What's this all about?" I demanded.

The boy shook his head. "Never mind, just go! Now!" That did it. The bad guy would have begged for help, tried to convince you he was innocent and deserved to be rescued, not caring how much danger he put you in. He must be the good guy.

"Better listen to him, girl," Walker told me.

I shot a single fireball in his direction (he sidestepped it easily) to show I wasn't playing around. "Let him go."

"What the... fire powers?!" the boy gasped, as if he'd never seen Bending before.

"Hmm, disobeying an officer..." Walker said nonchalantly. "Sounds like you just broke one of my biggest rules." He raised his left arm in the air, and the boy yelled, "Look out!", but I pushed him back with Airbending before he could do anything.

" _Wind_ powers?!" the boy said with even more shock (Why? Didn't he know I was responsible for the gust of wind earlier?) as I ran up to him. I sensed the attack from my right in the same instant I heard him say, "Watch out!" and ducked just in time to avoid a blast of what looked like red spirit energy. Walker was flying towards me with both hands blazing with the same red energy. If only there had been a large water source nearby... I shot a stream of flame at him, but he swerved to his left and dodged it.

I kept shooting flames as Walker flew straight towards me. I lost sight of him until he walked through the smoke, completely unharmed (that was the tricky thing about fighting spirits). I resumed my stance and stepped right in front of the boy. "Outta my way, girl," Walker said, still coming forward.

"Leave him alone!" I screamed, this time punching the ground and sending a shockwave rippling through the earth under the spirit, carrying him away from us. I didn't expect it to work quite so well – the only way he could have been so unprepared was if he hadn't been expecting that type of attack at all.

Neither had the boy, apparently. " _Earth_ powers?!" I heard behind me.

I turned to him, now a little annoyed by their ignorance. "I told you, I'm the Avatar."

I turned around again as soon as I heard Walker's voice. "Didn't know you had such powerful friends, ghost boy, but it won't make a difference." He shot another red blast of energy at me, but I raised a wall of earth in front of me. It shattered, but I was unharmed. "I don't know who you are or why you got involved, but you're gonna be sorry you did." I blew him away with another gust of wind, punching the air several times in rapid succession so it wouldn't stop. Walker strained against it for a while before he suddenly disappeared.

That surprised me – I'd seen spirits disguise themselves or dissolve but never instantly vanish. "Where'd he go?" I couldn't help exclaiming.

"You're kidding, right?" I heard the boy say before our attacker reappeared off to our right. I formed a huge swirling ball of air with both hands and flung it at him, sending him flying back again.

I was starting to get worried. I couldn't keep this up forever, and fire didn't hurt this spirit – I had to act fast. I moved my arms to create a continuous funnel of wind, pushing him farther and farther back until, with one final thrust of air, he was blown up towards what I would have called the sky.

Once he was out of sight, I hurried back to the prisoner. "What are you doing?" he asked as I reached for the glowing cuffs around his wrists. "Don't! Those..." I touched them gingerly, expecting them to shock or burn me or something, but they felt like regular metal to me. Judging by his reaction, this made no sense to the boy. "What? How can you...?" But it didn't matter to me, so I grabbed the rings of metal, concentrated until they crumpled under my grasp, and pried them out of the rock. "You're... you're human," the boy said in amazement.

"Of course – aren't you?" I asked as I did the same to the cuffs around his ankles.

"What?" He sounded surprised by the question, as if he couldn't tell I was being sarcastic, but before he could actually answer, he shouted, "Move!" We both darted to my left in time to see a blast hit the rock right where we'd been standing – I saw that Walker was flying back. "NO! You'll pay for this, you hear me?!" he yelled, his fists and eyes blazing red again.

I braced myself for another fight, but the boy just glared at his enemy. "We need to go now," he said before... rising into the air?!

I gasped in horror at what I was seeing. A human flying! No, it couldn't be! There was only one way to obtain that power! Memories of the only human I'd ever seen fly unassisted flashed through my mind at lightning speed. I knew what type of sick, twisted, evil mindset it took to achieve the power of flight. So he was just like Zaheer! What had I done?!

I forgot I had another attacker to worry about. I couldn't see anything except this one figure that seemed made of everything I found most horrifying. All my instincts and emotions dissolved into a frenzy of panic and fear directed at the Airbender above me. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, but I couldn't move a muscle. The sight of him turning down towards me and beginning to say, "Come on, let's..." restored my power of movement. I took a step back and yelled, "Stop! Get away from me! Stay away!" As I turned and ran, I heard him call after me, "Wait! Come back! Stop!", but I only ran faster and never looked back.

I was so frantic to get away, I didn't look where I was going. I had no idea if I was going the same way I'd come or not (not that it would have mattered if I did). I ran until, all of a sudden, there was no ground under my foot. By the time I could see my surroundings again, I was teetering on the edge of the floating island, my left foot on the solid ground, my right hanging over the green abyss with nothing to support it. I tried to regain my balance, but it was too late, and I fell off the edge screaming.


	3. A Shock

There was nothing to grab, no way to stop myself, but I fell much more slowly than I was used to. I was still so distraught, the thought of Airbending didn't occur to me. I just fell face first through the void until I crashed (managing to ease the landing with a clumsily-executed somersault) onto another small, bare floating rock.

For a moment, I stayed on my hands and knees where I'd fallen, trying to get my breath, wondering if I was far enough to be safe from another soulless, heartless psycho who'd made himself incapable of love or bonds of any kind.

Once I was sure I didn't hear anyone following me (hopefully, he had his hands full with the guy I should have let capture him), I opened my eyes, rose to a kneeling position, and tried to get my bearings. Everything looked as bizarre and incomprehensible as it had when I'd first arrived. "Oh, what is this place?" I groaned helplessly. "How did I get here? What's going on?"

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" I jumped to my feet with a gasp when I heard the voice. "A human? All alone?" It was the voice of a woman, soft and sweet yet menacing at the same time. I spun around, looking in every direction, but couldn't see anyone. "Don't usually see many of your kind way out here." It spoke tenderly, playfully, like the Airbender kids would to a stray squirrelmunk they found in their yard.

"Who's there?" I demanded. "Who are you?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. How did you get out here? Are you lost?" I didn't answer but kept looking around, trying to find the source, but it seemed to come from a different direction each time. "Yes, you're very lost," she said conclusively. "So much confusion... so much loneliness... so much fear..."

I have to admit, hearing a stranger instantly describe me like that unnerved me a little. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been through quite an ordeal, haven't you? It must have been dreadful."

I tried to ignore the chill that went down my spine. "Show yourself, and I'll tell you all about it."

"I know enough. Yes, I know all about you. All your pain, your grief, your doubt, your sorrow, your guilt, your suffering... hmm, it's been a while since I sensed so much anguish in one person."

What did that mean? "What do you want?"

The voice laughed at me. "Don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you."

"Then leave me alone." I tried looking for a new place to go, but it was impossible to concentrate.

"I can't do that. Your agony, your despair – it's irresistible... so powerful, so strong... so delicious!"

And then, right in front of me, where the voice was coming from this time but where there was nothing but empty space, out of nowhere appeared a shape – a solid shadow with a head shaped roughly like a human woman's, black all over except for fiery red eyes, its lower half shrouded in clouds of green and purple smoke. I screamed at the sight of it and reflexively shot a blast of fire at it, but it seemed to absorb the flame as it flew towards me, laughing in that sugary-sweet, mocking voice.

I dodged, spun around, and shot a blast of wind at her. It was as if she dissolved and separated, them came back together again. I shot fireballs out of my hands and feet over and over again, but she either dodged them all or they had no effect on her.

In-between dodging my attacks, she said, "Relax," as calmly as if we were sitting down drinking tea. "It'll be easier for us both if you don't try to fight." As she finished speaking, she circled around me and grabbed my shoulders in both hands, at the same time wrapping her flame-like body around mine, binding my hands in front of me. As soon as she touched me, all the fight went out of me. I lost all the strength to resist and went limp, feeling like a dark cloud was consuming my mind. Why fight? It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

In my ear, the spirit moaned in ecstasy. "Mmm... Your pain's like none I've ever consumed before. It's glorious! I haven't had such a feast in years. And you actually thought a weak, little coward like you could fight me? Look at you – you're nothing."

It was true. I was helpless, just like I'd always been. I was a total failure, worthless and useless to anyone. No one cared about me. No one needed me. I'd been an idiot to think I'd ever have the strength to be the Avatar again...

"Let her go!" A flash of green light, a burst of heat, a jolt, and the grip on me vanished. I fell forward and lay sprawled on my stomach. Whatever hit us seemed to blow the fog away from my mind; the smothering sense of hopelessness faded, leaving me feeling like I'd been pulled back to the surface after nearly drowning. What just happened to me?

Not feeling steady enough to stand, I pushed myself up on my elbows and raised my head. The spirit was now several yards away but flying back towards me. The boy from earlier flew down from somewhere above, coming between me and her, green flames burning in both his fists. "Stay away from her!" he shouted.

"You again? I should've known." The spirit began circling around and above us; the boy stayed where he was but never took his eyes off her. "Who's this? Another girlfriend?" At this point, she was to my left, about level with me and the boy. "She know you're still heartbroken over losing your catwoman?"

Thanks to her new position, I could clearly watch the boy's eyes widen in mock surprise. "Wow, I would've expected something a lot more original than that," he said in a matching tone of mock surprise before firing. He shot blast after blast of green flames at her, which she dodged each time. The two of them were moving so fast now, I kept still to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Watching them made me even more confused – he looked like a perfectly regular human, so how could he fly _and_ Firebend?

One of the boy's attacks finally connected. During the second the spirit was stunned by the impact, he reached behind his back, only to pull his arm back as his eyes flickered with confusion and then recognition – the unmistakable gesture of someone instinctively reaching for a weapon that was always there before remembering, this time, for whatever reason, it wasn't. "Darn it," he said.

The spirit noticed, too. "Forget something?" she said smugly before flying towards him again.

He flew away from her; I had to sit up and turn to my right to keep an eye on them. "Okay, Plan B..." As he spoke, his eyes and hands glowed a bright, frosty blue. He shot a blast of blue light at her with both fists. I gasped as I saw ice quickly form around the spirit; in just a few seconds, she was completely encased in a block of solid ice! There was just enough time for me to see her scowl in annoyance at her condition before her frozen prison fell out of sight.

I finally started to wonder if I was hallucinating. He could _Waterbend_ , too?! How was this possible?! I was the only one who could do that! The only human, anyway...

I stood up as the boy flew over to where she'd been and looked down to where she must be falling, I guessed to make sure she wasn't coming back, before floating over to me. I instinctively took a step back; he didn't come any closer. "You okay?" he asked with concern.

I'd seen enough to deduce I probably wasn't dealing with another Zaheer and thus wasn't as afraid of him as I'd been a few minutes ago, but I was still far too amazed to do more than stare at him in silence, looking him up and down, trying to reconcile what I'd just seen with everything I knew to be possible. No spirit looked so human... But then how could he do all that...? None of it made sense.

Somehow, I found my voice: "You... you can Waterbend? _And_ Firebend? And _fly_?"

He raised his eyebrow as if he didn't understand the question at all. "Uh... sorry, what?"

At least such a ridiculous reaction helped break me out of my stupor. Okay, enough was enough – I was at the end of my limited supply of patience. "I thought you were human," I forced myself to say calmly. "How can you do all this? What _are_ you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm..." he began to say, only to pause and say in a puzzled tone, "You... don't know who I am?"

How arrogant could someone be? "Sorry, should I?" I asked sarcastically.

"Bit of a relief, actually. I'm Danny Phantom."

 _Phantom_ , I understood (the word, if not how he got the nickname), but the first part... "Dan-nee?" I'd never heard it and couldn't place the meaning or nation. "Dan-ny... Danny..." I repeated the (I assumed) foreign name three times so that I was sure I pronounced it the way he did.

"Yeah – who are you?"

I sighed in annoyance, trying not to think of how this shouldn't be necessary. "You really don't know who I am?"

"Sorry, should I?"

Okay, now we were even. "Like I told you, I'm Avatar Korra."

He still must not have believed me because he continued to stare at me blankly, as if what I'd said meant nothing. "Is... your first name 'Avatar' or 'Korra'?"

"My what?"

"Uh, sorry, your, uh... what is it? Your... given name?"

I resisted the urge to reach out and grab his throat – I didn't deserve him making fun of me that way. To show it didn't bother me, I decided to play along and simply answer the question as if it were genuine. "My given name is Korra. I'm the Avatar."

"What do you mean you're an avatar?"

 _Now I know how Katara felt when she heard Aang ask, "What war?"_ The thought made me stop and consider... maybe he _wasn't_ making fun of me... I decided it would be best to explain as thoroughly as I could. "I mean I'm the reincarnation of Avatar Wan, the human vessel of Raava, the Spirit of Light and Peace, the bridge between the human world and the Spirit World, the master of all four elements – Earth, Fire, Air, and Water."

Danny Phantom folded his arms and, with a short laugh, asked, "And Heart?" Not understanding _that_ question, I said nothing, and he went on: "Sorry, couldn't resist. I was just gonna thank you for helping me and ask how you could do all that stuff, but I think you're as confused as I am."

"Glad you noticed. It would help if you could tell me where I am."

His expression changed ever so slightly – I couldn't tell if my request made him frightened, _more_ confused, or both. "You... don't know?"

"No – I'm not joking."

"Uh..." Come on, kid, how hard a question could it be? Why was he so afraid to answer? "Where do you _think_ you are?"

"I _should_ be in the Spirit World, but I know I'm not."

With a shake of the head, Danny replied nonchalantly, "No, you found it. Don't think anyone's called it that for centuries, though."

I didn't believe him for a second. "That's impossible. Humans can't Bend in the Spirit World without going through one of the portals, and I didn't."

He didn't react at all to my statement – evidently, I still wasn't making sense to him. "Do you remember what you were doing just before you got here?"

"Meditating, of course." How else did he think I would have tried to get to the Spirit World without using the portals?

"Where?"

I didn't see what that had to do with anything, but I would assume mentioning the prison and explaining what I'd been doing there was irrelevant. "The mountains outside Republic City."

"Where's that?"

"What do you mean 'Where's that'?! Republic City! The capital of the United Republic!"

"The wh-?" His exclamation died as his expression shifted from cluelessness to suspicion to understanding. "No way, it couldn't be..." Finally, Danny asked, "Um, Korra, this might sound strange, but do any of these names sound familiar to you? United States? England? France? Germany? Japan?"

When I couldn't take any more of his gibberish, I stopped him. "What are you talking about?"

"You've never heard of any of those countries?"

"You're kidding, right? Those aren't countries."

He cleared his throat. "Okay..." he said to himself before speaking up to address me again. "Look, this is gonna sound even crazier, but... could you name some of the countries in your world for me?"

"What do you mean, _my_...?"

He could obviously tell I was at the end of my rope. "Please. This is important."

I sighed in frustration and said rapidly, "The United Republic, the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation... look, what are you getting at?"

"Oh, boy..." He needed a second to get a grip on himself before he said whatever he was preparing to tell me. "Look, Korra, geography was never my favorite subject, but I know for a fact there's nothing called the Fire Nation or Earth Nation or..."

"Earth _Kingdom_ ," I instinctively corrected him.

"Earth _Place_ , whatever!" I felt some gratification in seeing the first sign of frustration from him. "There's never been anything with that name or any of those in my world."

" _Your_ world? What..."

Danny didn't let me finish. "I've never heard of the countries in the world you live in, and you've never heard of mine. What does that tell you?"

My anger at him evaporated as the truth began to sink in. "You... you mean...?"

"I'm not from this world, but you're not from it or mine. I don't know how, but you came here from another world. And apparently, you didn't know mine or this existed."

No, I didn't, and despite how used I was to traveling to the Spirit World, being told there were still _other_ worlds out there, that no one from the two worlds I'd known had ever heard of or had the slightest hint existed, would have been impossible to believe if it didn't make so many other things suddenly make sense...

No. It was ridiculous. It was impossible. I had to be sure. I closed my eyes and took a few seconds to collect my thoughts before I opened them and looked up at the floating boy. "Danny Phantom, tell me – can anyone in your world do this?" I raised my left arm and lit a flame in my hand.

"On Earth? No, definitely not. I'm guessing everyone can do that in your world, right?"

Letting the flame go out, I said, "No," as if I was just helping Ikki with her lessons, nothing odd going on here. "There are plenty of non-Benders, but my world's full of people who can Bend either Air, Water, Earth, or Fire, but none of that makes any sense to you, does it?"

"I get what you're saying, but in the world I've lived in my whole life, no humans can do all the stuff I saw you do back there."

"So I really..." There was no point in denying it. I could feel my heart racing, I was dizzy, and it was hard to breathe. This couldn't be real... but it must be. It explained everything. "When I tried to go to the Spirit World last time, I... somehow, I came to a completely different world instead." Nothing I'd ever learned had prepared me for this. No one I'd ever met had any idea it was possible. It was more unbelievable than the first time a flame had burst from my fingertips.

"I'm sorry," Danny said gently. "Do you know how to get back?"

"No," I whispered. Nothing would be more foolish than trying to return _now_ – who knew what world I might end up in next?!

"Look, I..." Danny was interrupted as we both reflexively turned to the sounds of screeching, scraping claws, and blows that had started in the distance (if I'd had to guess, I would have said dragons). "Ugh, not again, Aragon..." Danny looked only mildly concerned, but no matter how common an occurrence fights between dragons or whatever giant creatures they had in this world were, I had no desire to see one up close.

This was too much. I needed to think. "Is there someplace safer we can talk?" I asked him. It would be nice to have a decent sized ground under my feet, at least.

"Uh..." He looked as if he was calculating where was closest. "Yeah, there's a place nearby. It's pretty cold, though."

"I grew up in the South Pole."

I was prepared to need to explain how cold it was there, but he smiled in complete understanding and said, "Well, then, you should love this." He floated closer and held his hand out to me, but I shrank from him and took a step back, frightened against my will by the gesture. I couldn't fly, he'd seen I couldn't fly, there didn't seem to be any other way of getting around this world, so I knew how he must be planning for the two of us to travel, and even though I rationally knew there was no reason to be afraid, my body wouldn't cooperate – it didn't want him to touch it. It was humiliating, being as scared of him as if he'd been Amon or Tarrlok or Zaheer, but my body apparently couldn't tell the difference.

Danny showed no sign that he was offended by my reaction, as if he was used to it. He pulled back and dropped his arm. "I won't hurt you, I promise. I just want to help. You can trust me."

Could I? He wasn't an Airbender, so I could rule out what I'd first thought of for being the reason he could fly. He'd saved me from that dark spirit. He'd come to help me even after he was perfectly safe himself. He was obviously powerful, but so was I. He must be five or six years younger than me. Even if he turned out to be dangerous, I bet I could easily take him. "Okay, let's go," I said softly, but with my eyes narrowed harshly to warn him not to try anything, and held out my left arm.

Danny floated right up to me and held out his arms. I put my left arm around his shoulders and let him lift me up, his right arm around my back, his left under my legs. I shivered at the contact at first, but once the feeling passed, I felt secure. I couldn't help thinking he'd done this before. "Hold on," he said. I reached across his neck and gripped his shoulder with my right arm, too. I'd figured he would jump off the rock, but he rose gently, turned left, then flew down (I allowed myself a small gasp) before leveling off and flying straight, as effortlessly and as naturally as any hawk.


	4. A Journey

It took a moment for the rush of adrenaline to slow down and the certainty that we were going to fall to stop. Riding in a boy's arms through a glowing green void was nothing like riding a sky bison or a glider through a familiar sky. I'd seen that he could move much faster, and I appreciated how gently he went, obviously trying to make it easy for me.

I saw beings of various shapes and sizes flying past us and heard many I couldn't see, but Danny kept his distance from all of them – those who got closest seemed content to avoid an encounter with him. I tried not to pay attention to them, or I might overdose on the strangeness, although I couldn't help turning to look when I heard an amazing voice singing a mournful, tragic song about betrayed love and death by fire in the most lively, energetic tone. I got a distant glimpse of a young female form who seemed to be using blue Firebending of some kind, like I'd read about in stories about Lord Zuko's sister, before Danny turned so abruptly, I was sure he'd noticed and was stopping me from looking for some reason. I was about to ask him to turn back, but the desire faded as soon as the music did.

Other than that, nothing happened. No one attacked us. The landscape didn't change much. At some point, I felt myself relax. I kept both my arms around his shoulders but loosened my grip. Everything was all right (well, as all right as it could be under the circumstances).

No longer concerned for my immediate safety, I began to wonder about this new world again. Looking around us, I asked Danny, "Didn't you say this place is called the Spirit World, too?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. You could call that, but no one really does. We call it the Ghost Zone."

"Ghost Zone?" I remembered the spirit he called Walker had called him a ghost. "You mean..." I gulped before finishing the not-too-pleasant thought that occurred to me. "... this is your world's afterlife?"

"Not exactly." He began to recite like he was either an expert on the subject or knew someone who was. "That's a common misconception, but technically, it's not. Not everyone from my world comes here when they die. It's an alternate dimension full of both creatures who come from here _and_ the spirits of some dead people from my world who somehow end up here, who either couldn't or wouldn't pass on to the afterlife. They all have the same properties, though, and are made of ectoplasmic energy, so we call them all 'ghosts.' I know that's probably really confusing, but..."

Danny couldn't seem to figure out how to explain further, but he didn't need to. "Not really," I told him. "That's a common misconception about the world we call the Spirit World, too. When I was little, I thought it was where people from my world go when they die, but it's not." I paused, thinking of General Iroh, Admiral Zhao, and Aiwei. "Usually. There are some people who go there who never move on to the afterlife, but it's mostly home to creatures who come from that world."

"Just like here. You sure this isn't the same place?"

"No part of what we call the Spirit World looks anything like this Ghost Zone..." But if they were the same _type_ of place, it might explain why I felt solid even without my body... A brand new, unbearably terrifying thought suddenly struck me. "Wait... if I appeared here... does that mean I'm...?"

Danny understood me instantly. "No," he said firmly. "You're not a ghost."

His answer was so confident, it actually made me doubt he was telling the truth. "How can you be so sure?"

"If you were, I'd sense it."

So he was in tune with spirits... I mean, ghosts, like Jinora was with spirits. I was still too anxious to find any interest in that. "You're not just saying that?"

"Why would I lie about that? In my world, I can always sense if a ghost is nearby. It doesn't go off here like it does on Earth because, well, I'm surrounded by ghosts, but I can still tell you're not one of them. I don't know how you ended up here, but I swear, you're not a ghost."

If I had been, he couldn't have hoped to deceive me forever. He had no motive for lying to me about it. I decided to believe him. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief.

"How did you say you got here again?" I heard Danny ask me. "Meditating?"

I opened my eyes. "Yeah."

"So you can just, what, concentrate and magically teleport yourself to another world?"

"It's not magic, it's part of the spiritual connection that allows some of us to Bend the elements."

"And everyone..." He backtracked as he obviously remembered something. "I mean, other people in your world have powers like yours?"

"Not exactly. I'm the Avatar. There's one every generation, and only the Avatar can Bend all four elements. All other Benders can only Bend one."

"Why? What makes the... the Avatar different?"

What was the simplest way to explain that to someone who knew nothing of Benders or the spirits? "It's our job to maintain the balance and harmony of the world and keep everyone safe. The first Avatar was a man named Wan. He bonded with Raava, the powerful Spirit of Light and Peace, who gave him the power to Bend all four elements without destroying himself with the energy. When he died and was reborn, Raava stayed with him in the next lifetime, and for each lifetime we've been reborn."

"Reborn? You mean, reincarnated or something?"

"Exactly. It's thanks to her energy that he – and the rest of us – are able to safely Bend all four elements."

For some reason, that made him laugh. "Your power to control the elements comes from a benevolent female spirit of light and peace? Let me guess – her arch enemy's an evil male spirit of chaos and destruction, right?"

My eyes widened in surprise. "You know about Vaatu?"

"Who?" Danny's grin disappeared. "No way, I was just joking..." (That was directed to himself, not to me.)

"About what?"

"Never mind, you don't want to know. Sorry, what were you saying? Something about someone named Raava?"

Deciding I'd drive myself crazy if I focused on more than one mystery at a time, I let my questions about what he'd just said drop. "Yes. It's the spirit of Raava within us that allows us to Bend all four elements. We use her spirit energy inside us to... I mean, each of us is a human, but we have the spirit of Raava in our..." Listening to what I was saying made me shake my head. "I'm sorry, I know this must sound impossible..."

"Not really. I mean, I'm part spirit myself."

I looked right at Danny. "What did you say?"

"Right, I forgot, you don't know. Sorry, everyone in the Ghost Zone does."

"Knows what?"

"Weren't you wondering how I got all these powers?"

"The flying? The Waterbending? I was at first, but once you told me you weren't from my world, I figured everyone in your world could do it."

"I don't know what the 'Waterbending' thing is about, but, no, they can't. You were only half right when you guessed I was human. I'm half-human, but I'm also half-ghost." _Half_ -ghost? What did that even mean? I was still busy failing to understand that when Danny went on: "I guess there's no reason you can't know. Just, if you end up meeting anyone else from my world, don't mention what I'm about to tell you. It's a secret."

How encouraging, but what could I say? "Okay."

"My parents are ghosthunters. They've spent the past twenty years designing anti-ghost weapons and inventions. Once of them was a portal into the Ghost Zone." They'd actually _created_ a portal into their Spirit World? That sounded incredible! I'd never heard of anyone doing that with ours, not even the Avatars. What if that was possible in our world, too? I almost stopped Danny to ask him about it but decided that would have to wait and let him continue: "I... got too close to it one day. There was an explosion, and when I woke up, I could do all the things ghosts could do – fly, turn invisible, turn intangible..."

 _Like Jinora when she projects her spirit_ , I thought. Seemed like they had a few skills in common. This comforting discovery, however, didn't last long before a much more disturbing idea struck me. I couldn't help saying, "So, you're...?" I surely would have thought of it sooner if it hadn't been for everything else I'd had to think about since I got here.

"No. I didn't die," Danny said with a knowing grin. "I didn't become a ghost, but since I have ghost powers and ghost energy, even though I'm still alive and still human, half-ghost seemed the best way to describe it."

"And the Bending?"

"What are you talking about? I can't control any elements, unless you count making ice."

"Just ice? But I saw you shooting those green flames."

"Those weren't flames. They were ectoplasmic energy blasts. Almost all ghosts can do it."

"Can all ghosts Bend ice?"

"No, but full ghosts all cause an icy chill in the air when they're around humans."

"And all ghosts can fly." He'd said that already, but I wanted to be extra sure.

"Yeah."

So that was how he did it. I now desperately wanted to tell him something. He deserved an explanation for why I'd been so afraid of him before. "In my world, the only humans who can fly unaided like this are those who've rid themselves of all earthly attachments so that they can't feel anything like love or compassion or remorse."

To my surprise, I felt Danny shudder, as if what I'd said scared him even more than me. I turned towards him, but he was looking straight ahead, his eyes set in fierce defiance like he was facing some enemy I couldn't see. "That's not me," he said in a firm but low voice. "It'll never be me."

There was something in his tone that stopped me from asking for details. I looked ahead, too, but no other spirit, I mean, ghost appeared, so it must have been a memory he was so furious at. "I know. Now. Sorry about earlier."

"Forget it – I get it all the time."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"Ghosts aren't exactly a common sight in my world." Danny sounded back to normal (if that was the right phrase to use). "At least, not until a year ago. Everyone's terrified of them. You wouldn't understand..."

"Actually, I do. Benders have been around for thousands of years, but a few years ago, the non-Benders of the United Republic started hating Benders. I don't know how or why, if they were jealous or what, but it built up over the years until they were absolutely terrified of us, too."

"What about the spirits from this Spirit World of yours?" Danny asked me with genuine, actually eager, curiosity.

"Our worlds had been separate for thousands of years," I explained. "It wasn't until I opened the two portals almost four years ago that spirits became a common sight in our world. They weren't very popular at first. Things were in so much chaos in the beginning, I can't even describe it."

"You don't have to. Sounds just like what happened when Walker launched the first massive ghost attack on my town last year and the whole world learned ghosts exist."

"Why was he after you anyway?" I ventured to ask.

"I broke out of his jail and freed the rest of his prisoners," Danny said with a proud grin.

I grinned back. "What were you in for?"

"Bringing in items from the real world or something. Doesn't matter – Walker appointed himself sheriff of the Ghost Zone; he makes up rules and charges on the spot so he can lock anyone up for anything."

"You sure he's not from the Island of Chin?" I couldn't help asking.

"Where?"

"Never mind." As crazy as it seemed, I could feel myself starting to enjoy this. "What was that thing he trapped you with?"

"One of my parents' brilliant inventions. He must've stolen it from their lab. Shoots cuffs made of refined ectoranium that stop a ghost from turning intangible."

"What's ecta... ecto...?" I gave up trying to pronounce it.

Danny took pity on me. "Ectoranium. A rock ghost powers have no effect on."

"Like platinum," I said instantly.

"What about platinum?"

"A metal that..." I stopped myself, realizing a little background was probably needed. "You see, Earthbenders in my world didn't learn how to Bend metal until about 74 years ago. Metal's like rock with all the earthly impurities refined out, so it was impossible to Bend, until Toph Bei Fong, the greatest Earthbender in history, figured out how to sense and Bend the little earthly impurities in all metal. Once you learn how to do that, Metalbending is easy. Platinum is too purified, though. It's one substance in my world no Bender can Bend."

"I get it. You're right, it's pretty much just like that. That's why I couldn't get out. Don't know what I would've done if you hadn't shown up." Danny turned to me with a serious look in his eyes. "I don't think I thanked you for that yet, so thanks. I really owe you one."

"I think you already paid me back," I reminded him.

"Oh, that? That was nothing."

"What was that thing you saved me from back there?" I asked, despite being half-sure I didn't want to know.

"Her name's Spectra. I've dealt with her before. She feeds on misery and despair. And the more she feeds on you, the worse it gets." I was tempted to ask if he knew this from personal experience but didn't. I was also on the verge of bursting out laughing – no wonder she'd been so excited to find me! To my immense relief, though, Danny didn't seem interested in why she'd gone after me.

"Thank you for stopping her," I said simply.

"It's my job," Danny said with a smile. He really did think nothing of it. I started wondering what I would have done if I hadn't run into him, what other ghosts I would have found, who I doubted would be any safer than the two I'd met, and how I would have defended myself from things my attacks couldn't even touch while having no idea what I was even fighting. I didn't know how, but we both definitely showed up at just the right time.

That made me think... "What were you doing here anyway? You said you're not from this world, right?"

"Of course not. I still live on Earth. I was just looking for Lydia..." Before I could ask who that was, he caught himself and backtracked. "... this ghost I've fought before who just broke out of prison."

"Walker's prison?" I asked.

"No, the Guys In White's prison on Earth," Danny told me.

I had no idea who they were, but I was more concerned with being responsible for keeping him busy while an enemy of his got away. "Is she dangerous?"

"She's pretty much harmless, until she tries to break out her boss, and you can she bet she will if I don't catch her first."

"Her boss?"

"Name's Freakshow."

"One of your more dangerous ghosts?" The way Danny mentioned him, I imagined a cell as secure and under as heavy guard as Zaheer's, with the threat of some Red Lotus colleague coming to break him out.

To my surprise, the answer was, "No – actually, he's a normal human. Well, not normal, he's insane, but he has no powers."

Comforting but confusing. "How'd you meet him?"

"When he brainwashed me into leading his team on a crime spree," Danny said bitterly with a sigh. "When I first met him, he had a staff that let him control ghosts."

I shuddered as I pictured Unalaq and the dark spirits he'd put under his control. "I've seen that," was all I said. "I hope 'had' means he doesn't anymore."

"No way, that's over. I never would have run into him again if he hadn't gotten those gems that let him turn himself into this reality warping monster-ghost that tried to take over the world."

Again, I thought of Unalaq, becoming the Dark Avatar. "Believe it or not, I've seen that, too."

Danny looked at me with a wide-eyed expression I was sure matched my own. "How exciting," he said in a way that clearly told me he found this as eerie as I did – everything we said, the other seemed to already know. I braced myself for the inevitable request for details and, unfortunately, wasn't disappointed: "Who was it?"

"My uncle," I managed to say.

"Your _uncle_?!" Danny repeated with surprise.

"Yes." I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to share more but hoped it wouldn't require reliving too many of those disturbing memories. "He knew how to turn spirits dark and make them obey him. He was insane, too."

"I'm sorry."

I couldn't have him thinking I'd been forced to stop someone I'd loved and admired. "It's not what you think. He betrayed me. I did look up to him once and thought he could help me, but he was using me all along. He didn't care about anyone but himself. He got what he deserved."

"Sounds like a nice guy."

"I can't believe I ever trusted him."

"What do you mean?"

"He wanted to teach me, to be my mentor, and I let him," I explained. "I still don't know if it was more for his plan or to get back at my father – he was always jealous of him."

Danny sounded almost frightened when he asked, "He wanted to be your mentor, and he was jealous of your father?"

"Yeah, why?" I replied, wondering what I'd said that bothered him so much. "Don't tell me you have an uncle like that, too?"

"An uncle? No, no, definitely not," he assured me.

"Then what...?" I started to ask but was interrupted by a loud noise behind me, like the sound of Asami's scooter magnified a hundred times. I turned and saw some two-wheeled vehicle (a lot like the motorcycles I'd seen ridden by Equalists and that gang of thieves in the Earth Kingdom) flying down towards us with two people on it. From this distance, they looked human, but by the way Danny glared at them, I could tell they were no friends.

Danny sped up, but so did the vehicle. "Hey, punk, long time no see!" a man's voice called. It turned and leveled off so that it was flying alongside us on Danny's right. A young man was driving with a young woman sitting behind him, her arms around his waist. "Well, what do we have here?" the former asked. He stared at me in an all too recognizable way that immediately made me hate him. He whistled, then, looking past me at Danny, said, "Little out of your league, isn't she, kid?" His companion was scowling at him so hard, I expected her to pull out a dagger any second and stab him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. He shifted his gaze back to me and, with the most infuriating smile, said, "Hey, beautiful, what brings you all the way out here? You know, if you want to go for a _real_ flight..."

His tone made me do it. Without hesitating, I shot a single blast of fire at him with my right fist. The woman let go of him and floated up to safety, but I caught _him_ off guard. It didn't seem to do any damage other than push him slightly away from us, make the green flames around his bike flare up, and make him gasp, "Whoah! What in the..." Before he could finish, I sent him flying as far away as I could with a huge gust of wind. His bike, now riderless, fell down out of sight.

The girl watched it all with a highly amused smile. When he was gone, she turned to me and said, "Nice shot."

"Thanks," I said, and she flew away in the opposite direction. Once I was sure neither of them were coming back, I turned to Danny. "Who were...?"

"Don't ask."

"Okay."

He probably wouldn't have had time to tell me anyway. It seemed like less than a minute passed before Danny suddenly looked down. "We're here."

I followed his gaze and saw, up ahead and below us, another island too far and wide to see the end of. It was covered by two things: mountains and a thick layer of snow. We flew too low too fast for me to see what was behind the tallest line of mountains, but the land on this side looked completely deserted – no people, no buildings, no footprints.

When we were almost to the ground, I asked, looking all around me, "Where's here?"

"The Realm of the Far Frozen," Danny answered as he released me just before he landed, dropping me lightly on my feet and standing next to me. "The people here are friends of mine."

So it wasn't deserted after all. "I'd rather not meet them right now," I said. The idea of meeting an entire tribe of ghosts was overwhelming.

Danny didn't act like he minded. "That's okay. The village is on the other side of the mountains. We probably won't run into them out here."

As I rubbed my arms, waiting for the heat-regulating Firebending technique I'd learned to warm me up, I looked up at the sky. "What about other ghosts?"

"They wouldn't dare attack this place. It's cold, but it's safe."

Realizing he was worried about me, I said truthfully, "I'll be fine." It was no colder than I was used to back home, and I was already warming up. There was something soothing about being back in such familiar surroundings, too (even if the sky was green), surrounded by my first element.

"If you want, it's a longer flight, but we could go back to my world," Danny said, gesturing over his shoulder in the opposite direction we'd come from. "My parents are out of town tonight – you could hang out at my place until we figure out what to do."

I quickly waved my arm. "Thanks, but one new world a day is enough for me."

"Okay." He started walking, and I followed alongside him.


	5. A Discovery

"Any idea how to get back to your world?"

"If I were in the Spirit World... _our_ Spirit World, returning to my body would be easy, but..."

"Whoah, back up... 'return to your body'?" Danny repeated.

I wondered what I'd said this time that didn't make sense. "I told you I got here by meditating."

"And...?"

"Well, only the spirit travels when you meditate."

He stared at me for a second before saying in resignation, "Okay, add 'routinely leaving your body' to the list of things humans can't do in my world."

Oh. "Well, not everyone in my world can do it, either. It takes a lot of practice and concentration."

"So, you're not really here?"

"My spirit is. In _my_ Spirit World, it makes no difference, and looks like it doesn't here, either."

"Guess that makes sense." Danny must have needed a second to take that in, though, because there was a pause before he said, "And you can't just go back the way you came?"

"I would if I could be sure I'd get back, but who knows what would happen if I tried it from here? You have anything in your world that could get me home?" After all, if they could create spirit portals...

Danny shook his head. "Nothing I've ever heard of. The people here have something that lets you travel through time but not between dimensions..." He paused again like an idea just struck him. "There's no chance you're from a different time, is there?" He looked closely at my clothes. "I mean, maybe we _are_ from the same world and you came here from the past."

"I hope not, if your world has no Avatars or Benders. Besides, meditating into a different time? That's ridiculous."

"Right – what was I thinking?" Danny's sarcasm made me smile.

Still, this was getting us nowhere. I couldn't think of any way to help myself get home except learn as much as I could about this place and how things worked here and hope some fact would hold the solution. If the people of this land could travel through time, this was as good a place as any to start. I decided I might as well ask, "How did you become friends with the people here anyway? Save them from some evil ghost?"

"Actually, they saved me," Danny informed me. He held up his hand and formed an ice crystal out of the moisture in the air. (Why would he do it that way? He had plenty of snow to work with.) "I didn't know I had this ice power until a few weeks ago. When it started, I couldn't control it. I practically turned into a block of ice myself. Oh, and this started at the same time my town was attacked by a giant plant ghost. I managed to escape, but there was no way I could fight him. I'd met their leader a few weeks before that, and this was the only place I could think of to go. I hoped he could help me, and he did. He taught me how to use my ice powers. If it wasn't for him, I'd never have been able to stop Undergrowth."

"That would be the giant plant ghost?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

The story gave me a strange feeling. "What did he do exactly?"

"Hypnotized everyone into planting his seeds and feeding themselves to his 'children.' He wanted revenge on humanity for destroying the environment."

That wasn't the type of answer I was looking for, so I tried a different approach. "I don't suppose he covered every inch of your city with giant spirit vines?"

"Yeah – how'd you guess?"

"The same type of thing happened in Republic City over three years ago," I explained. "Too bad they weren't evil – wow, never thought I'd say something like that – or I could have attacked them and been done with it."

"Where'd they come from?"

"My world and the Spirit World used to be much closer together," I told him, "until Avatar Wan sealed the two spirit portals. He thought it was the best way to protect us, but after... the incident with my uncle, I thought it might be better if I left the portals between our worlds open so we could live in harmony with the spirits again. I never knew an army of vines would move in and take over the city."

"What did you do?"

"I found out my friend Asami eventually rebuilt parts of the city around the vines. _I_ couldn't do anything," I admitted. "I tried, but pretty soon, everyone got sick of waiting for me to solve the problem. They were so mad at me..." I felt myself getting mad, too, as I flashed back to those days.

"They blamed you for everything." He didn't say it like a question.

"Well, they were right. Didn't make it any easier to go through. The President, the press, the people... everyone hated me. They even banished me from the city."

"Huh, guess I'm lucky they never went that far," was Danny's response.

How could that not catch my attention? "What are you talking about?"

"For the longest time, everyone hated me, too. I was Public Enemy #1. The papers, the news, the cops, the government... they all treated me like a monster. I got blamed for every ghost attack, every crime they committed... The press got everyone believing _I_ was the bad guy, that I was the one who was dangerous."

"Why? Just because you're a ghost?"

"Well, Walker definitely helped."

I hated the thought of anyone else going through that, and this sounded even more severe than how Raiko and everyone had treated me. Plus, I didn't believe for a second that Danny deserved it as much as I had; I felt terrible for the poor kid. "I'm sorry," I said pathetically.

Danny smiled at me again. "It's okay. It got better. Actually, now I have the opposite problem."

That made me raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Pretty much everyone knows I'm a hero now. Which means I can't appear in public for five seconds without a mob of fans chasing after me. Some days, it's hard to say which attitude's worse."

Maybe, but it sounded better than everyone switching to brushing you aside as a worthless nothing. We didn't need to go into that, though. "You're kidding. How did that happen?"

"It's a long story..." He stopped walking as something ahead of us caught his attention. I followed his gaze, but all I could see was a cave up ahead and to our left. He suddenly continued, "Actually, I could show you if you want. Come on, this way."

We strolled into the cave, which was surprisingly and inexplicably well lit. Danny gestured to the walls, which turned out to be covered with pictures. Whoever carved them was about as talented in that area as Chief Sokka, but it was obvious they told the story of some battle and, if that was supposed to be who I thought it was, that Danny had not only been involved but won. "That's you, isn't it?" I guessed.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. They heard about how I defeated Pariah Dark, the Ghost King who tried to take over both our worlds. That's why they helped me when I needed it. The people in my world saw it, too – that's when they started to trust me."

"Congratulations," I whispered. I was surprised by the faint hint of bitterness in my voice.

At least Danny didn't seem to notice – he just shrugged and said, "It was no big deal, really."

The nonchalant way he dismissed the apparently great act of heroism that made him famous _did_ irritate me a little. I folded my arms and looked away from him. "Of course – I'm sure it was easy for a hero like you."

He must have thought my sarcasm was playfulness. "I didn't say that. I almost didn't make it out of that one alive."

That made me turn back to him and ask eagerly, "What happened?"

"I wasn't strong enough to fight him on my own, so I had to steal this high-tech battle-suit my parents designed. It worked, but it drains your energy. If it had taken me a second longer to seal him back in his prison, it would have drained me completely, and, well, when you reach that point, all the time in the world isn't enough to recover from it."

"Must have been terrifying," I said with a frown, out of concern for what he must have gone through... right...?

"Yeah, it was a close call, but once it was over, I was fine. He was gone for good, my town was saved, and everyone started to change their minds about me. I wasn't expecting that, but that was the best part."

"Good for you," I said even more bitterly than before, but I couldn't help it when I pictured how this kid got to fully enjoy the fame, honor, and satisfaction that were supposed to come with winning your battle and defeating your enemy, while every major battle _I'd_ fought just left some deep, painful scar on my soul that never fully healed with nothing to enjoy about it. I'd been starting to respect this Danny Phantom as a fellow warrior who fought against the evil and injustice of his world like I did. Now it sounded like he had it much easier than I'd thought. Much easier than I ever did...

But it wasn't fair to judge him without more details. I made sure my voice sounded more normal when I asked, "How'd you end up fighting him anyway?"

"Who else would've?" was his reply.

"So nobody asked you to? Nobody appointed you the defender of your world?"

I didn't blame him for looking at me in disbelief. "No, but why would they need to?"

"So you just woke up one day and decided to fight evil spirits as a hobby? As some kind of game?"

"I... came out of an accident one day with ghost powers, and, when an army of them invaded my town, I figured, somebody had to protect it."

"Must be easy when it's not your responsibility." I honestly hadn't meant to say that out loud. I couldn't stop it. I now realized just what type of hero I was talking to. He was one of those vigilantes you saw in plays and read about in books – all the power, none of the burden. No destiny, no White Lotus constantly reminding you of your duties, no obligation, no reason or motive to fight anyone or do anything except a desire to have fun! All with the cheers, admiration, and confidence of hundreds of adoring fans! Yeah, that was how I thought it was going to be before I left the South Pole, that was how it was supposed to go for me, until I ran into a little roadblock called Reality. He was living the exciting life of easy heroics I'd dreamed of – I tried to resist, but everything within me screamed this was not fair.

Danny, of course, had no idea what I was thinking. He could only be confused by my attitude. "It's gotten easi _er_ , but it's never been a walk in the park. And it _is_ my responsibility."

"Must be nice to have a choice."

"I... didn't know you hated being the Avatar." So he figured some of it out, at least.

"I never knew I would, either, but if you knew what my job is like..." I slammed my mouth shut, realizing too late that I'd said too much.

There was a silence for a moment, but Danny eventually said, "Uh, Korra, are you okay?"

I was laughing almost hysterically as I turned around to face him. "I'm trapped in a crazy world of ghosts that I never knew existed with no way of knowing if I can ever get home again – how 'okay' do you expect me to be?!"

Danny narrowed his eyes and took a step towards me. "I meant before you came here. Were you in some kind of trouble?"

With a sigh, I folded my arms again and asked in annoyance, "Where'd you get that idea?" It was none of his business.

"I figured there must've been a reason Spectra went after you."

"Oh, it's nothing." To avoid looking at him and giving too much away with my face, I paced back and forth, looking at the ground, not raising my voice but unintentionally speaking faster and faster. "Just my mentor's daughter who's like a sister to me and a bunch of innocent people have been taken hostage by a swarm of vines, and I'm stuck here when I should be back there trying to free them, but it doesn't matter because no one expects me to be able to help them or do anything anymore because they've known for three years what a useless loser I am, but that was okay because Kuvira did what should have been my job much better than I ever could until she conquered the entire Earth Kingdom, and I couldn't stop her – one person, one battle, a one-on-one fight, and _I_ couldn't beat her – and now things are worse than ever all because of me because I was too stupid to figure out how to escape three years ago." At that point, I was standing in front of the opposite wall of the cave, my back to Danny as I released a long sigh. I hadn't planned on letting all that spill out.

I took a deep breath and looked around at Danny. His face showed just how bewildered he was by my impromptu speech, but he didn't say anything. I sighed and leaned my head on my arm against the wall, saying redundantly and pointlessly, "You have no idea what I'm talking about..."

"I get that you must have really been through something."

If he thought he was going to get details, he could forget it. "Excuse me if I'm not in the mood to talk about it with some kid I just met."

If I meant for that to put him out, I failed. All he did was say, as if with the utmost genuine sympathy, as if with perfect knowledge of the subject, "I understand. Whatever it is... I'm sorry."

 _I understand. I'm sorry_. Those four words made me snap. The two things I hated most in the world: people insisting they knew how I felt, and pity. As soon as he said it, I spun around and glared at him. "Don't. Even. Start. I don't need your pity. I do **NOT** need to hear this speech again. Trust me, I've heard it a million times."

I stomped towards him, my voice rising until I was screaming as I paced back and forth in front of him, sometimes letting flames burst from my fists, sometimes yanking at my hair, sometimes punching the wall, gradually forgetting what I was saying as I got lost in my own rage. "You're just like everyone else. _'I know just how you feel, Korra, it must be terrible.'_ You don't know what you're talking about! What makes you such an expert on me? What makes _everyone_ such an expert on this?! You want to tell me it's no big deal, it'll get better, just forget about it, relax, let it go, and move on? Yeah, it's so easy! Why do I have to make it _so_ hard on everyone else by being _so_ upset about it? Poor little Korra, she can't handle anything – just go ahead and get over it, what's the problem?

"Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through?! Were you ever captured by the same psycho you just saw try to kill your father, knocked out, and woke up completely at your arch enemy's mercy, all you can think about is how much you want to kill him but you can't because of those stupid chains you're absolutely _powerless_ to escape? Do you know what it's like to feel so wholly, entirely, and thoroughly _helpless_ like that – you can't do anything while your enemy tortures you, there's nothing you can do to stop him or stop the pain, nothing but scream in agony and pray that you'll die soon?! Do you know how it feels to want so desperately to let out the power you know will stop it but you can't because that's what he wants, so you have to keep fighting to hold it in, not let it fight back, not defend yourself, and every second you resist just makes the pain worse? Have _you_ _**EVER**_ been tortured like that?! Do you have the _slightest_ idea what that's like?! Do you? _Do you?!_ "

"YES! Okay, you're right, yes!"

The word was so unexpected, it jerked my mind back to the present. Only now did I realize that Danny had backed up against the cave wall and I was standing right in front of him. Only now did I notice the expression on his face. I couldn't make any sense out of it or what I'd just heard. I was breathing so hard, it took me a second to catch my breath enough to ask, "What do you mean, 'Yes'?"

Danny sidestepped away from me and the wall, looking as furious as he sounded. "Yeah, that's pretty much how it went, and, yeah, it was a nightmare, but what's it to you? How do you even know about that?"

"Know about what?"

"What you just..." He groaned in frustration and threw up his hands. "Never mind, I don't care. I don't know what I did to you or why you brought that up, but if you want me to leave you alone, I will. Whatever happened, I'm sure you can handle it."

It was obvious from his harsh tone that he was fed up with me, but at the moment, that was of zero concern to me. " 'Brought that up'?" I repeated. "You thought I was... You don't mean..." Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed his arm. "You're not saying that actually happened to you?" It was impossible. It couldn't be true. I didn't want it to be true...

He yanked his arm free. "You obviously know it did. I don't know how, but..."

"No, I don't – how could I? I never expected you... I wasn't... I never thought..."

Before I could come up with a way to explain, Danny's eyes went wide with surprise, before the realization hit him, too: "You weren't talking about...?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I was talking about what happened to _me_."

"So everything you just said...?" It was a sincere question, like he was still too shocked to believe it.

I nodded. "I swear, I had no idea anything like that..." I couldn't finish.

"... happened to me. I believe you," Danny whispered.

I backed up and leaned my back against the wall for support, reeling as if someone had punched me in the chest, my head spinning as I took in the horrible truth. _It happened to him? It happened to him, too?!_

For his part, Danny's eyes seemed to be restlessly roving over different parts of me, like I was loose puzzle pieces he was trying to fit together. I felt like I was reading his mind – he was searching for clues that would answer the questions he couldn't ask. I was sure of it because I was thinking the same thing. We both desperately wanted to ask the same thing, and neither had any intention of asking it – it was a step we both knew we were forbidden to take.

There was _one_ thing I could say, though. "I'm sorry for everything I said."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I thought you were messing with me." Danny came over and stood next to me. "Does this have anything to do with how you ended up here?"

I nodded. "It happened three years ago, but I haven't been the same since. I'm fully recovered, physically, but I still can't meditate into the Spirit World. Every time I try, I see him."

There was a pause, then Danny asked timidly, "Who was he?"

That, I could answer. My eyes narrowed, my mouth set, my hands clenched at my sides, I said in a low, hard voice, "His name is Zaheer. He was the leader of the Red Lotus, an organization that tried to kidnap me when I was little so they could brainwash me into being their apprentice." Danny gasped but didn't say anything else. "Sound familiar?" I asked him.

"Believe it or not, yes. His name's Vlad Masters. Calls himself Plasmius. He's always trying to kill my father because he's obsessed with my mother, and ever since I met him, he's been obsessed with trying make _me_ his evil apprentice."

I don't know why that made me shudder – at that point, it should have been no surprise we had the exact same type of enemy. I hesitated but finally ventured to ask, "When did it happen?"

"A few months ago."

I was relieved to see he was in much better condition than I was a few months after it happened – he looked way too young to need to go through learning to walk again and... wait a minute...

I didn't realize I'd been staring at him until Danny turned to look up at me and asked, "What's wrong?"

It took me a while to force myself to ask, "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

Fifteen. Only fifteen. "How old were you when it happened?"

"Fourteen."

Fourteen. Jinora's age. When I was fourteen, I was safe at the White Lotus compound in the South Pole practicing Firebending. When I was fourteen, I never knew what suffering was – boredom, frustration, and anger, yes, but not the pain and despair that only comes from brutal, coldblooded torture. How could anyone put such a young kid through that? Who would do that? Why would they? What purpose could that possibly have served? It couldn't have been for the same reason the Red Lotus had done it to me – Danny had already explained he wasn't like the Avatar in his world. Maybe his age didn't technically make it any more disturbing than what had happened to me, but in that moment, that one fact made me so nauseous and made me shiver so hard, I clutched both my arms tight to my body and pressed my back against the wall again to brace myself.

"Korra, you all right?" I heard Danny ask me.

I opened my eyes but didn't look at him. "Yeah, I just can't believe someone would do that to a kid." Way to sound condescending and arrogant, Korra! "I mean..."

Danny stopped me: "I know. It's okay. It's over."

"Why would he...?" I realized I was thinking aloud in enough time to stop myself.

I wished Danny hadn't felt the need to answer me anyway: "It's a long story."

"You don't have to tell me," I said sincerely. We were now turned towards each other again.

"I wouldn't know where to start anyway," Danny said plainly. "You see, Vlad Masters is obsessed with me because... he has the same ghost powers I do."

"There are _more_ like you?" I asked in surprise. I'd thought, based on what he said on the flight here, that he was the only one with powers like his.

"No, just two. Well, three now, but that's it. Vlad was the first. He was friends with my parents in college. He was in the same type of accident I was over twenty years ago and got the same powers. I was the second." There was a pause. "Aren't you gonna tell me about an enemy of yours who has all your powers, too?" He wasn't being sarcastic.

"Well, there was my uncle making himself the Dark Avatar..."

"Of course."

"So that's why he was interested in you," I deduced.

"Yeah," Danny grudgingly admitted. "He must've realized he was never gonna get anywhere with me, though, because he found another way of getting the... _ugh_..." He almost gagged. "... the son he wanted. He tried to clone me."

"Wait, he tried to what?"

"Don't have that in your world, huh?" Danny correctly guessed. "Okay, a clone is an exact copy of a person. Or anything that's alive."

"You mean a twin?"

"Sort of, except they're not born at the same time. It's a twin made after the fact based on a person. Like making a copy of a picture or a book, except you're making a copy of a person."

I understood what he was saying, but it sounded too outlandish to be real. "But that's impossible. People can actually do that in your world?!"

"No, but it doesn't stop wackos like Vlad from trying."

"That's insane," I gasped.

"You're telling me."

I tried to put aside my disbelief and accept such magic was possible so I wouldn't get hung up on this issue. "So..." I said, shaking my head to calm my racing thoughts. "That's what he did to you? He made a copy, a twin... a _clone_ of you?"

"He tried, but it didn't work. Except for one, all the clones he made dissolved into ectoplas- in a pile of goop after a while or after a big fight."

"Did he _know_ that would happen?"

"I don't know, but seeing it could didn't change his plans at all." I had no words to describe what a monster this guy sounded like, so I said nothing. Danny went on: "Somehow, he figured he could make a stable clone if he got a sample of my DNA while I was in the middle of transforming."

"Sorry, but what does that mean?"

"Oh, uh... guess your world's never heard of DNA, huh?"

"I sure haven't," I told him truthfully.

"Sorry. What I meant was, he needed a sample of my... my blood or flesh. That's what you need – well, what Vlad needed, anyway – to make a clone."

"You mean, just get a sample of someone's blood or skin, and you can make a copy of them?" Sounded like magic used in Jinora's fantasy novels that required a piece of someone, like a lock of their hair, in order to cast a spell on them. Why didn't Danny just say magic like that was really possible in his world?

"In this case, yes – that's all I know. And he needed to take a sample from me while I was transforming."

"Transforming into what?"

"Right – guess that never came up," Danny said to himself before speaking up to me again. "I told you I'm half-human and half-ghost. Well, this is what my human form looks like."

"Human form?" I gasped as a white ring of light formed at his waist. I watched the light spread over his body in two directions, up and down. When the light faded, I was looking at a completely different boy – amazing blue eyes, ebony black hair like Asami's, lighter, almost pale, complexion, wearing a red and white shirt and blue pants. Even his build seemed different, scrawnier.

If he'd turned into a platypus-bear, I would've been less stunned. Shapeshifting spirits, I was familiar with, but reversing your appearance like that...? "Danny?" I whispered. My immediate reaction was that I didn't recognize him at all, but when I told myself it must be Danny Phantom, it was like a blurry figure came into focus, and, although there was no change, not only was my brain suddenly able to recognize him, but it seemed so obvious, I couldn't understand _where_ the confusion had come from.

"It's still me, Korra." It's impossible to describe how his voice sounded – looking back, I know it was the same, but in the instant he spoke, it sounded strange, unfamiliar. But, a second later, when I reminded myself who he was and recalled how his voice had sounded before, I suddenly recognized they were the same. "See?" While my brain was processing the surreal experience of not recognizing what I'd just seen and heard five seconds ago, there was another flash of light at his waist. The light repeated the same motion it had followed before, and a second later, I was staring at the same green-eyed ghost boy I'd saved from Walker. "Recognize me now?"

"What just happened?" I asked him.

"It's an effect of my powers," Danny explained. "My sister calls it 'supernaturally-induced face blindness.' No one can recognize me unless they see me change between my human and ghost mode. I don't know how, but I'm not the only ghost who can do it. Pretty useful when you have a secret identity."

"So you have two different appearances? You still look human in this form, though."

"So do a lot of ghosts who used to be human before they died. This is what my ghost mode looks like." What, was he in his version of the Avatar State right now then or something? I didn't get to ask because an idea suddenly seemed to strike him. "Do Avatars, I don't know, ever have to do something to tap into a higher level of power, or change something about them to use a power they can't just wave their hand and use all the time?"

Maybe I hadn't been far off. "Well, there is something we enter called the Avatar State, where we tap into the energy, skills, and knowledge of all our past lives. It's all the past Avatars acting together through the current one, which makes us much more powerful than usual. We glow and levitate and can do much more than we can on our own. But it's not something you can, should, or want to do for a long time."

Danny nodded. "Well, if you could, that's kind of what my ghost mode is like. It lets me use all my powers way more easily than I can in human mode."

"So whenever you want, you can enter a more powerful state – the one you're in now."

"Pretty much."

"And V- Vuh-la-" Forget it, there was no way I could pronounce that name. "This Plasmius needed to get a piece of your flesh while you were transitioning into this state, like you did just now, to make a clone of you?" The picture was starting to become clear to me, and I hated it.

"To make a stable clone, yeah, or so he said. Glad I never got to find out if he was right."

"What...?" I stopped. I had no right to ask... well, if he agreed, he could refuse to answer. "What happened?" It was so wrong of me, but I _needed_ to know.

Danny sighed and ran his hand through his hair before he replied: "Well, he _was_ able to make one clone who was more stable than the others. A little girl."

"A _girl_?" He never said this cloning stuff worked that way!

"Yeah. She tricked me into trusting her, and then when Vlad showed up and we started fighting, she knocked me out. It's all kind of a blur. My friends said that when they came out, they saw Vlad hoist me over his shoulder and fly away."

I didn't know whether to laugh or tremble in horror. "You sure _you're_ not the one who can read minds?"

"Don't tell me that's what happened to you, too?!"

I weakly nodded and closed my eyes. "We were fighting on top of a cliff. I saw Zaheer throw my father off. He survived, but I didn't know that. I was sure Zaheer killed him. I don't remember much after that. They say that after I lost consciousness, he threw me over his shoulder and flew away."

We turned and stared at each other again, Danny's mouth hanging open, both of us at a loss for words. What did we need to say anyway? We both probably already knew everything the other had to tell!

Danny thought of something to say before I did: "If you had friends there, why didn't they stop him?"

"Nobody else could fly. I'm sure your friends would have stopped him if they could have, right?"

"Yeah. There was nothing they could do. They didn't find out what was going on until the fight was over."

"Where'd he take you?"

"His lab in Colorado... uh, another state. When I came to, I was locked in the spectral energy neutralizer – this cube that stops me from using my ghost powers."

"Sounds like the metal boxes they use to contain Benders in my world."

"Probably. Is that what they put you in?"

I shook my head. "No, since I can Metalbend. When I woke up, I was suspended in midair in this huge, underground cavern, surrounded by the Red Lotus, my wrists and ankles bound by platinum chains." Well, at least the shape of our prisons impervious to our powers was different, even if the effect was identical.

Based on the expression on his face, however, Danny seemed to find the situation hard to picture. I didn't blame him – it must have sounded like they were planning to sacrifice me to some volcano spirit or something. "What were they doing in a place like that?" he asked me.

I felt myself trying to delay giving the full details as long as possible. "Well, first, they took the time to explain their plans and motives in minute detail."

"Yeah, so did Vlad."

I tried to grin and half succeeded. "That's the most annoying part of being locked up like that, isn't it?"

Danny followed my lead. "Yeah – we already know they're crazy and evil, can they just skip the long, rambling speeches about what they want and how they're getting it?"

"You would think they'd want to get on with their precious plan, not take the time to give you the courtesy of explaining why they're torturing you."

"Granted, locking someone in a power-proof prison is probably the _only_ way they can get someone to listen to that speech, so you can't blame them for taking advantage of the opportunity."

"True," I agreed, but the attempt at levity ended there. It was a noble effort, but we both felt too awkward to keep it up.

We frowned and looked away from each other, until I heard Danny clear his throat. "So what did they want?"

I dug my nails into my palms as I gathered my strength to answer. If he told me his story, I owed it to him to tell him mine. I spoke as if I was a professor reciting a lecture: "The Red Lotus wanted worldwide anarchy and chaos. They figured this would be easier to achieve if there was no Avatar. When the Avatar dies, the next one is immediately reborn. But if the current Avatar is killed while in the Avatar State, not only the person but the Avatar spirit would die – the reincarnation cycle would end, and the Avatar would never be reborn. So if they wanted to kill the Avatar forever, they had to do it while I was in the Avatar State."

I heard Danny gasp but didn't look at him. Eventually, he whispered, "So, that's why they...?"

"Yes. They needed me to go into the Avatar State so they could kill the Avatar. The fact that I would die, too, was just a side-effect, nothing personal." After waiting a second or two, I was able to turn and face him. "And Plasmius needed you to turn into your ghost form so he could get a sample of your flesh to make this perfect clone of his, right?"

Danny turned away from me before he confirmed, "Right. When he was done with that, the next step was to kill me, too. But I wasn't planning on going ghost just to make things easier for him, so he had to force me." I already knew that, but my heart still started to race – was it because of what he just said, or fear of what it meant came next? "Just like they did with you, right?"

I closed my eyes tight, forcing the images away, blocking them out. "Yes. The Avatar State's a defense mechanism – it can be triggered whenever you or someone you love is in terrible danger or the situation is too big to handle on your own. To kill the Avatar, they had to trigger the Avatar State without my cooperation. So they... they..." I couldn't say it without remembering it. I took a deep breath and forced my mouth open. "... they tortured me until the pain was so bad and I was so close to dying that I'd be forced to enter it to save myself." My head was spinning so fast, I thought for sure I would pass out, but I didn't. As the sensation faded, I noticed I was sweating like I'd just run a mile. I dropped the heat-regulation I'd been employing since we'd landed. Oh, the cold air felt so good!

After what seemed a long time (much longer than it really was, I'm sure), I heard Danny make a sound next to me, but he didn't say anything. I knew as surely as if I'd read his mind that he'd been about to say, "I'm so sorry," but stopped himself. The knowledge no longer infuriated me like it had before; now I knew he truly _did_ understand what he was talking about – he understood this pain.

Sensing that Danny wouldn't say anything until I gave him permission, I asked, "And you?"

"The same. He tried to make me go ghost by torturing me."

Another long pause (we seemed to need a lot of breaks like that). "How?" I ventured to ask.

"Electricity. He put me in this glass pod, chained me up by my hands and feet..." (So our prisons had had the same design after all.) "... so I couldn't break out, and shot a million volts through me. At least that's how it felt." The usual pause. "What did they use on you?"

"Poison. Something metallic but naturally liquid so they were able to Bend it through the pores of my skin into my body. It was the worst pain I've ever been in, before or since. It..."

Thankfully, Danny relieved me of the need to describe it. "I know." He was the only person I'd ever met who could say that truthfully.

I felt it was my duty to speak next, but I needed a few seconds to steel myself to it. "I don't even remember much. Not like most memories, anyway. Just the pain. The fear. And always this urgency that I _couldn't_ fight back, that I had to hold back the Avatar State, that I couldn't let it come out to save me."

"I know." His tone clearly said, _I know that's the hardest part_ – the knowing that you could make the pain stop and were forbidden to let that happen, the holding back the power inside you bursting to break out and fight back, the defying every instinct in your heart, mind, and body to protect yourself.

"I remember hallucinating," I said softly. "Other than that, I can't recall seeing or hearing anything, except myself screaming in the beginning."

"Me, too," said Danny. "All I remember after the shocks began are the screaming – I know it was me, but it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else – and the blinding blue light."

"Blue light," I repeated weakly. The picture was complete – I could see this young boy in the exact same position I'd been in. Everything, from the way we'd been captured to the way we'd been restrained to what they wanted from us to the screams of agony to glowing bright blue, was identical. The only difference was that one had been tortured by lightning and one by poison, which just served to show that maniacs liked to be creative in the means they chose for tormenting their victims. The weapon of choice didn't matter, though – the pain was the same.

It was like all the air had been knocked out of me. I stared speechlessly at Danny, letting my brain absorb the full, horrific implications of everything I'd just heard. For the first time in three years, I was face to face with someone who completely understood exactly what I'd gone through, who truly knew exactly how I felt. That same nightmare, something no one should ever have to endure, had happened to the boy standing right next to me.

"I'm sorry, Danny," I finally managed to say. "I'm so sorry. I never should have made you relive all that."

"I asked you what happened first – I started it."

"I've never met anyone else who's been through this, not even close. Once you told me you had, I just... I don't know why, but I felt like I needed to hear the whole story."

"Did it help?"

That was actually a good question. "I don't know. It's terrible you went through that."

"Don't worry about me. I'm all right." Something about the way I looked at him must have made him add, "Really."

I thought, _How is that possible?_ , but I said, "If you don't mind my asking... how'd you escape?"

"I overloaded the machine he had me in. Once it blew up, I was able to go ghost and get away. He caught me again thanks to Dani... Danielle, the girl I told you about, but once she realized I was right about him not caring about her, she took my side and let me go. I destroyed the place with my strongest move, but he still would've killed us if my friends hadn't shown up and saved us."

"How did they find you?"

"Another invention of my parents' – one that can track me... I mean, my ghost half anywhere." After the customary pause, Danny added, "What about you?"

It was easier to talk now. A little. "I finally gave in and went into the Avatar State. With that much power, I was able to break the chains and get away. Thanks to the poison, Zaheer got the upper hand, but Jinora – the last Avatar's granddaughter – got the Airbenders who were there to create a tornado and save me from him. The poison still would've killed me if my friend Suyin hadn't been able to Metalbend it out."

"Were you... all right?" Danny asked that as if he knew the answer.

I waited a second but firmly answered, "No. I could barely speak for weeks. It took me two years to learn how to walk again and fight like I used to."

"What?!" He went silent for a bit, then said, "I had no idea..."

"I know." I meant it. It had been clear to me for a while that Danny hadn't continued to suffer for years after the ordeal like I had, but the knowledge brought none of the jealousy or bitterness I'd felt before. Truly, I was grateful for it; I wouldn't wish any part of this nightmare on anybody – the more of it he'd escaped, the better.

"Did... what happened before you came here have anything to do with that?" Danny asked me next.

"Not exactly, except that because of it, I can't get to the Spirit World. Jinora and some others were captured and imprisoned there. It was because I wanted to save them that I went to confront Zaheer in prison, to try to get over this block. Obviously, it didn't work. Maybe nothing will."

" _Something_ will." I was taken aback by the determination in Danny's voice. "I don't know how you got here, but we'll figure out how to get you back and save your... your friend."

"She's more than a friend." I realized I probably hadn't explained that part very well to someone unfamiliar with the concept of reincarnation (even some people in my world found it hard to grasp). "Avatar Aang was the last Avatar before me – my past life. Jinora is his granddaughter. I don't consider her _my_ granddaughter or anything like that, but she _is_ like family. It's hard to describe..."

"I get it. Dani and I are the same way. We call ourselves cousins."

"The girl who's your clone?"

"Yeah. I'd do anything to protect her." He didn't say anything else loud (maybe he wrongly thought it would sound patronizing), but I heard, _So I know how you feel_.

I was grateful for his offer, but it didn't make me feel much better. "Thanks, but I don't think there's anything you can do."

"You're right – nothing we know about. Yet. I promise, I'll find a way to help you."

His resolve did nothing to convince me, but his refusal to let me down did lift my spirits a little. It was always reassuring to have an ally. I appreciated his attitude, but I didn't want him to get hung up on it. I'd gotten myself into this mess – getting myself out was my responsibility. He didn't owe me anything.

So I told him in complete sincerity, "You've done enough. You telling me all this means more to me than I can say. I just wish there was some way I could make it up to you."

"I owed you – you saved me from Walker."

"But then you saved me from that dark spirit – that made us even. Now you're one up on me. And I probably won't get the chance to pay you back."

"Even if you really owed me anything, you're right about that part," Danny agreed, grinning at me. "There's nothing I need help with right now. So let's focus on _your_ problem. I have this friend who..."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a loud, fast-paced repetition of some kind of chimes, clangs, and tones that might have been a new, untrained student's attempt at music echoed off the cave walls. Just as I was about to ask Danny if he knew what it was, I watched him pull a rectangular device out of a slot on his belt. Looking at it, he said, "Oh, it's my sister. Just a second." He pressed a spot on it, causing the sound to instantly stop, then held it up to his right ear like a radio or a telephone. Still, I was surprised to hear him say, "Hey, Jazz," because there was no microphone that I could see. I was able to spend a few seconds wondering how it worked before it became the last thing on my mind.

Looking confused, Danny repeated, "Jazz? Hello, you there? Hello." He waited a second, then held the device out in front of him and pressed the front of it with his thumb. I could hear white noise coming out of it now, but nothing else happened. I stepped closer to Danny to hear better. "Jazz, you there? Can you hear me?" If he expected a response, it didn't come, but this apparently wasn't a cause for concern. With a shrug, he turned to face me. "Sorry, must've..."

He was cut off by a grunt of pain coming through the radio, followed by a female voice saying from far away, "Get off of me!"

Obviously worried now, Danny repeated again, "Jazz? What's going on?"

The next thing we heard was another voice – a man's, this time – say, as if from a distance, "Fine, be that way!" and then, much louder and more clearly, "Ah, Daniel, so glad I was able to reach you!"

The voice was confident, sophisticated, suave, delighted. It made Danny gasp in shock and his eyes narrow in pure rage and loathing. When he said, "Vlad?!", I felt my heart rate instantly double. "Why do you have Jazz's phone?!"

"When I stopped by, she was kind enough to lend it to me," the voice said, as naturally and smoothly as if Danny had just asked him the time.

There were the obvious sounds of a brief struggle in the background, then the girl's voice from earlier said, "Danny, don't listen to him...!" before it sounded like she was shoved away. "If you won't tell him, I will!" the man told her, sounding much angrier than he had talking to Danny a second ago.

Danny looked like he was on the verge of crushing the telephone in his fingers as he shouted, "What's going on?!" I covered my mouth to muffle my gasp when I saw how his eyes were glowing bright green, the way the Avatars' glowed blue when we entered the Avatar State – was he about to lose control or something...?

Sounding not just calm and collected again but amused, the man's voice replied, "I blame myself, Daniel. I've taught you so much, but I apparently never taught you the most important step after completing a mission – never leave loose ends."

Danny was far from calm. "What loose ends? What are you talking about?!" he demanded. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't even move, suddenly feeling like I was spying on a secret meeting and couldn't be caught.

"Surely you remember our little game last year?" his enemy said smugly. "In my backyard? With the ectoskeleton?"

"Yeah, we tricked you, got away, and blew it up, what about it?" Danny said rapidly.

"You may have destroyed the suit, but aren't you forgetting another, far more valuable game piece? Don't answer that – I know you've forgotten all about the bloodstream nanobots."

"The nanobots?" Danny looked almost as confused as I felt. "What do those have to do with anything? I destroyed the control!"

"Correct – you destroyed the remote control. A problem not worth considering at the time or any time since. However, since you recently ruined my chances of completing my failed cloning project, I've had some spare time on my hands..."

That last statement made Danny even more furious. " 'Completing your project'?! You nearly killed a little girl!"

His enemy only sounded more amused by his outburst. I could picture him shrugging as he said, "I intended to restart my experiment from scratch. Now that your interference has ruined that plan for the second time, I've judged it best to teach you a lesson in the consequences of getting too attached to people. Unfortunately for your sister, the bloodstream nanobots made her the easiest example."

Danny was starting to sound frightened. "But you can't..."

The voice... Vlad Masters – cut him off: "Please, Daniel, did you really think there was no other way to control them, or that it would be impossible to make _another_ remote control? Difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, yes, but hardly impossible. Thanks to you two generously leaving the nanobots right where they were, all I needed to replace was a portable means to control them, which I have now done. You've seen _Teen Titans_ , haven't you? I must admit, I'm ashamed _I_ didn't think of using these that way first..."

Whatever he was talking about, it made Danny's eyes widen in sheer panic. "You wouldn't..."

"I am. You know the drill, Daniel – either you finally wise up and accept my generous offer, or... well, no need to go into unpleasant details. The choice is entirely up to you." I didn't understand everything, but I could easily conclude from his hints and his tone that Danny was facing the same deal Zaheer had given me after he captured the Airbenders. "Don't act like you didn't know this was coming. Anyone who knew the story could have told you it was only a matter of time."

Danny's sister screamed, "Danny, don't...!", but Vlad evidently did something to stop her. "I wouldn't take another step, if I were you," he told her.

"I don't care!" she yelled.

"Maybe not, but I'm sure your brother does." Once everything was quiet again, he said, "Well, Daniel, what's your answer? By which I mean, I know what your answer is, so how much time do you plan to waste delaying it?"

Clenching his free left fist so tight I expected to see blood spurt out, gritting his teeth, his shoulders taut, every muscle in his body tensed, Danny opened his eyes and asked in a low voice, "Where are you?"

"Your living room. I've already tracked your location, and I know you left without your little sidekicks and that there are no ghosts near you. Come straight here. Alone. You have thirty minutes. That means no time to go find help."

"Oh, I'm coming. And when I get there, you're gonna wish you never met me!"

Vlad sighed in boredom. "Don't waste your breath on empty threats, Daniel – they don't make you sound defiant, just desperate. My goodness, we have a long way to go. Here's your first lesson: know enough about any technology you use to spot if it's been tampered with."

A split second and one gasp of comprehension later, Danny threw the telephone away from him. After it landed in the snow, there was a pop and a spark, and it caught fire. Danny and I watched it melt and smolder beneath the small flame for a few seconds, me trying to imagine what would happen next, Danny panting as if he was out of breath. Before I could think of the first question to ask, he said, "I hafta go," and made as if to run for the entrance to the cave.

I grabbed his shoulder. "What's going on?"

Danny shook me off. "Vlad has my sister. If I don't get home now, he's gonna kill her."

I'd gathered as much. He'd started running, and I ran after him. "I'm going with you."

"Forget it."

"I can help."

"There's nothing you can do. Just stay out of it."

I'd expected this reaction, but I had no intention of accepting it. "Why? Don't tell me it's too dangerous for me."

"You don't know anything about this."

"You can explain on the way." We had reached the entrance by then, and he rose into the air. "Please, let me help you." I grabbed his ankle, but, of course, I soon felt myself holding nothing. Still running, I called after him, "He thinks you're alone. He has no idea I'm here or that I know. Whoever this... Plasmius is, he won't be expecting me. With me, you have the element of surprise. You have a chance of outsmarting him."

Danny must have thought I had a point because he stopped in midair, turned, and looked down at me. He hesitated a second, then came back down, hovering before me. "That's true... you could be my trump card."

"Your what?" I had to ask.

"My secret weapon. Thanks to his booby-trap in my phone, I can't call my friends. I don't have time to get help. He won't be expecting anyone else to come with me..."

"Then take me with you."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You're not – _I'm_ asking it. Stuff like this is my job. You said you wanted to help me. Then let me do this. Let me stop this creep from hurting anyone else." He didn't say anything – he still didn't think it would be right taking someone who had nothing to do with this into danger. "Please. Let me help you save your sister."

That did it. "All right. Come on."

There was no time to waste on ceremony – without another word, in one motion, Danny pulled me into his arms and took off again. I barely had time to secure my arms around his neck before we were flying high over the snowy landscape, in the opposite direction we'd come, almost immediately left it completely behind, and went soaring through the green void of the Ghost Zone.


	6. A Plan

Danny didn't have the time to be gentle with me this flight. My suspicion that he could go much faster than he had before was definitely correct. I couldn't have cared less – my fears of him were completely gone, my worries about my situation long forgotten. All I could think of was how to save my new friend and an innocent girl from a madman it seemed would do anything and hurt anyone to get what he wanted.

I didn't have much time to get all the information I'd need. "What's going on? What was that guy talking about?"

"Where do I start, where do I start...?" Danny mumbled to himself. "Okay, last year, Jazz, my sister, tried to pretend she'd turned on me to find out what Vlad was up to. When I went after her, he made her fight me to prove it. Before we started, he injected her with these bloodstream nanobots."

"What are those?"

"Tiny machines, too small to see, that affect breathing and heart rate once they get in your blood. I don't know how they work, but once they're inside you, if they're activated, they can kill you. He had a remote control, and if he pushed the button, that would set them to kill her. I got the remote away from him and destroyed it, and we escaped. We thought that was the end of it."

I didn't have much trouble accepting what he said about these nanobots and how they worked, but there were other parts of the story that blew my mind. "Why would she let him do that? Was her masquerade that important?"

"I asked her the same thing. She didn't know what they did then. She said she'd figured that if he'd wanted to kill her, he would've done it as soon as I showed up, so whatever they were for, keeping up the act seemed the safest way to go."

"And they've been inside her all this time? Isn't there any way to... get them out?" My voice trailed off a little as I realized how familiar that sounded, but Danny didn't notice.

"I told her we should go to the hospital or something, but she said if we did, they'd ask a lot of questions, and Mom and Dad might find out, and if the lab that made them found out, they'd want to know how we got 'em... She insisted it was too risky, that since they couldn't hurt her anymore, we should just leave 'em alone." He groaned in anger at himself. "I knew I should've made her go."

"I know this won't mean anything, but it's not your fault," I said plainly. "And it's too late to worry about that now, so forget about it. I'm guessing from what I heard that this guy is able to control them again."

"If he's not bluffing, yes."

"And if you don't agree to be his apprentice, he'll kill your sister with the push of a button."

"Also yes. Just about the only thing he hasn't tried yet."

"So if we don't want either of those scenarios to happen, we have to get the control away from him."

"He's not gonna let that happen again," Danny said with certainty.

I had to agree. "Then we have to get them out of her."

"We don't know how. I bet Vlad doesn't even know."

The disturbing sense of familiarity I'd noticed earlier came back to me. "What are they made of?"

"I don't know, some kind of metal."

Microscopic pieces of metal in her bloodstream. That left only one possible problem to rule out. "Platinum?" I asked.

"I doubt it."

That wasn't good enough. "Why?"

"Platinum's a pretty rare, expensive metal in our world. Why does it matter?"

That would have to be good enough. "I can get them out of her."

Without slowing down, Danny turned to look at me, stunned. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm a Metalbender, remember?"

I didn't blame him for forgetting what that meant, given the circumstances. He closed his eyes and shook his head, obviously trying to remember. "Right... yeah. So you can..."

"I can Bend them out of her," I explained. "I did it with traces of the metallic poison left inside me a few days ago. When I was little, I learned how to save a drowning victim with Waterbending. It's practically the same thing. If these things are really nothing more than tiny pieces of metal, I can pull them out of her."

"Won't that hurt her?"

I'd never used Bending on solids inside a human body before, only on liquids. It was easy to guess how it would feel. "It'll probably be painful, but only until they're all out. Whatever damage they do, I can heal it."

"What? How?"

Guess I never explained that. "It's part of my Waterbending abilities. I can get them out of her with Metalbending, and heal any injuries they cause with Waterbending."

"You're sure?" Danny asked, as if it sounded too good to be true.

"Unless they're made out of platinum, positive."

"They couldn't be. No way..." he tried to assure himself.

"Let's hope not," was all I could say – I couldn't think of a plan if they were.

"What'll you need?"

"A few minutes with her, without danger of being attacked." There was no way I could fight and do such a delicate job at the same time.

"I'll try to get rid of him," said Danny. "Play along, say I'll go with him, get him to go wherever he wants to take me. As soon as we're gone, come out and help her."

"If you agree too quickly, he'll know you're up to something," I pointed out.

"I know, I won't," Danny assured me.

"What if you can't get him to leave?"

"Then I'll hold him off while you help her."

That might work if he was the only attacker I had to worry about. "Do you think he's alone?"

"He works alone," Danny explained. "He doesn't have an army or staff working for him or anything, just a few ghosts he sometimes needs to run errands for him. Don't know why he'd involve them in this; it's not like there's anything he needs them to do. If I know Vlad..." He suddenly stopped, clearly not wanting to go into how well he knew how his enemy's mind worked. Eventually, he said, "He'll be alone," flatly but conclusively, with no explanation or elaboration. I believed him.

I moved on: "Where are they?"

"Vlad said they're in the living room of our house," Danny answered, his voice firm and determined. "The Ghost Portal's in our basement – that's where we'll come out. Vlad doesn't know about you, so let's keep it that way. Once we go through, don't say a word – keep totally quiet. Hopefully, he won't figure out I brought help." I nodded – it was exactly what I'd planned myself.

Danny began to describe the layout of the building: "The basement's under our kitchen. The kitchen's next to the living room. There's a wall between them. When we get to my basement, I'll phase us up through the ceiling, leave you in the kitchen, then phase through the wall into the living room. There's one doorway between the kitchen and the living room – if you stay away from that and keep quiet, Vlad won't know you're there. Stay out of sight. I'll try to get him to leave Jazz alone with you. As soon as you hear us leave or... me say your name, come out and help her."

I nodded again. "Okay. What if he attacks you?"

"Stay hidden no matter what unless I say your name."

"Okay," I repeated. This was Danny's enemy – he got to call the shots.

"Any other questions?" he asked me.

"Where are your parents?"

"Following a lead on some ghost attack at an elementary school in Dimmsdale. Said they'd be gone all weekend. I'd rather they not come home early, but if they do, it'd be better for us than Vlad. He can't tell them who I am because I'd tell them about _him_ , so all they'd find would be a ghost threatening their daughter, and since you're human, I doubt they'd stop you if you said you could help her."

I didn't understand all of that, but it was enough to know what would happen if his parents surprised us. "Anyone else who might come in I should know about?"

"No. My two friends planned to spend all weekend working on this science project due Monday they kept having to put off because of ghost attacks. That's why I told them to stay home tonight. They won't come by unless they get worried because they can't get a hold of me, and that'll take hours." I didn't understand the first part of that, either, but I gathered enough to know the answer to my question was "No."

"What can this Plasmius do?" was my next question.

"Pretty much everything I can, except he has no ice powers, and he can split himself into four, more if he doesn't need to do anything fancy." I decided now wasn't the time to ask how he did that. "What do you think?"

"I think we can handle this," I said honestly. If I could fight humans and I could fight spirits, surely I could fight a half-human, half-spirit, right?

Whether it was due to coincidence or how fast we were going, we didn't have trouble with any of the ghosts we passed; I didn't have time to closely examine what they looked like, but I didn't want to. I wanted to get where we going and do this! Fortunately, I didn't have to be patient very long – a few minutes later, as Danny angled himself sharply up, I spotted a swirling green circle of energy up ahead. I hadn't seen anything like it in this Ghost Zone, so, even though it looked nothing like our Spirit World portals, I guessed it must be the portal between here and Danny's world.

I was proven right when Danny stopped several yards away from it and told me, "That's it. As soon as we go through, we won't be able to talk. Anything else we need to go over?"

I shook my head. "No. Just get me to your sister and get Plasmius away from her. She'll be fine, I promise."

Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes, steeling himself for the task ahead. "All right, here we go." I reflexively tightened my grip as he flew slowly through the portal.

For a second, I was surrounded by bright green light and felt like I'd plunged into a pool of water, except without a splash and without getting wet; then I was staring at a dark, relatively bare room, the ceiling, floor, and walls all made of the same gray-blue metal. This was obviously the basement Danny had talked about.

I turned around and saw the portal was actually built into the wall, like a door instead of the pillars they made in my world. Other than that, the place didn't look _too_ alien. Tables against the wall to the right were scattered with glass test tubes, beakers, and metal contraptions I wouldn't hope to understand the use of. Several thick pipes jutted in and out of the walls near the ceiling. A giant metal machine that, if asked, I would have guessed was a submarine stood near the portal entrance. Through the large doorway in the left wall, I could see a staircase going up. There was no sign of anyone and no sound from any direction.

I took all this in _much_ more quickly than it takes to describe. After a quick scan to try to get my bearings, I turned to Danny, and, our eyes set firmly in the same unwavering resolve, we nodded at each other, saying, _I'm ready – go for it._

Danny silently rose into the air, and I felt a strange tingle run over me as both his and my own body vanished from my sight. I felt weightless and slightly lightheaded, too, but I could somehow still feel Danny holding me and the sensation of rising. I instinctively braced myself when we got near the ceiling but felt nothing when we hit it and kept going. I was too overwhelmed by the thought of what was happening to pay much attention to what the inside of the ceiling looked like – all I remember is how my heart sped up as we passed harmlessly through it.

It was over almost as soon as it started – before I knew it, Danny was hovering with me still in his arms in a brightly lit room, my weight and the sight of our bodies returning as soon as we were in the open air. I realized I'd been holding my breath and released a silent sigh of relief.

Just like Danny had said, we were obviously in his kitchen, as I judged from the table and chairs, sink, and stove, which I recognized, although there were a bunch of other things I didn't. Through the doorway near the right corner, I could see another staircase in the next room, going up, against the wall, but nothing else. Danny dropped me lightly to my feet, not making a sound, far enough into the room that, unless someone actually stood in the doorway, they couldn't see us.

Here, we _could_ hear two people arguing in the next room. "I'm not gonna let you do this." That was the girl's voice I'd heard before – Danny's sister.

"I don't remember _you_ getting a say in this." That was Vlad.

"And you wonder why Mom can't stand you."

"I may need you to bargain with Daniel, Jasmine, but I could be persuaded to think it would be more satisfying to use these nanobots to a different end."

"You're bluffing. I know you stole them from Axion – if you didn't design them, how could you design a new remote?"

"As much as I wish I had the time to enumerate all the resources I have at my disposal for you..."

"Then prove it!"

"Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you? Then your brother wouldn't have any reason to yield to my demands. Unfortunately, _his_ noble sacrifice is the one I'm counting on today."

Danny had obviously heard enough. His eyes blazing green again, he clenched both his fists but restrained himself from saying whatever he wanted to yell at the top of his lungs. He turned and nodded at me. I nodded back and, light on my feet as Tenzin and Jinora had taught me, silently crept to the wall and flattened my back against it so there was no chance of my being seen. Danny nodded at me again, turned in the direction of the other room, then disappeared. I felt a rush of cold air pass by me and knew he'd gone through the wall.

"Jazz, you all right?" I heard Danny say in the next room.

His sister yelled, "Danny, get out of here! Forget about me! Don't listen to him! He..."

"Oh, please, as if he's going to listen to that." Vlad sounded as if he was trying not to laugh.

Jazz ignored him. "Don't do anything this creep says! He's nuts!"

"She's beginning to get on my nerves, Daniel. I suggest you tell her to save her breath."

"You stay out of this!" Danny screamed, then said in a much softer voice, "I'm sorry, Jazz. I never should've let this happen."

One or both of them must have moved towards the other because Vlad suddenly said, "That's close enough, you two."

"Don't talk like that, Danny," Jazz told him. "This is all _my_ fault. You were right – I should've taken care of this long ago. If I hadn't been so stupid after you found out I knew your secret, this never would've happened. I'm so sorry."

"You wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been such a jerk," said Danny.

"You had every right to be mad at me," said Jazz.

"Yeah, but..."

"As much as I hate to interrupt such a touching scene," said a clearly impatient Vlad, "I'm afraid we have urgent business to attend to here. Not that it's a matter of life and death, but... oh, no, wait – it is."

"You really think you're gonna get away with this?" Danny said as if it took every drop of his willpower not to blast the guy's head off.

"I'll let _this_ answer that for me." I pictured him holding up the control that held Jazz's life in the balance. I was sure of it when I heard fast movement, then Vlad say, "Don't even think about it, Daniel."

"You really think I'm gonna go along with this? Why should I even trust you? You'll probably push that button as soon as I'm not looking just to mess with me."

"Come now, Daniel, do you really think I would do that? What would I have to gain from it? I don't want to hurt you. On the contrary, I'm trying to help you. You've made it clear this is the only way to convince you to accept my offer."

"There's no way I'm joining you!" Danny insisted.

"Well, if that is your decision..."

"Stop!" Danny said it so fast, Vlad must have had his finger ready to push the button.

"Don't try to stall, Daniel – you're never going to think of a way out of this." Good – Vlad didn't suspect he already had a way out.

"You know how this ended on that show, right?" Danny asked.

"Good point," Vlad said in mock fear. "Oh, dear, I certainly hope there are no other nanobots I would activate with the same control were _you_ to be exposed to them!" He paused, then added, "What's that? There aren't? Oh, well, so much for that plan. What's next?"

Before Danny could reply, Jazz piped in, "I won't let you do it, Danny."

"You know I have to, Jazz," Danny said weakly.

"How do you think I'll feel if you go through with this?!" she tried arguing next.

Danny countered with, "How do you think _I'll_ feel if he kills you? What would _you_ do if _I_ was the one in danger and you were the one being blackmailed? Would you refuse if I asked you to?"

"It's my job to take care of you. I'm your big sister."

"And I'm your brother. And I'm not gonna let him hurt you, no matter what it takes." Danny said that last part very slowly, paused, then said in a strained voice, as if it caused him physical pain, "You win, Plasmius. I'll find a way outta this, but not right now, so for now, you got me. Congratulations – you stole a plan from a Warner Brothers cartoon. You're a genius."

"Genius is in the eye of the victor and loser, dear boy."

Jazz said desperately, "Danny, don't..."

"I'll be okay, Jazz."

"But..."

"It'll be all right."

Danny seemed dangerously close to revealing he had a plan. Maybe it was fortunate that Vlad chose to smugly say, "Your delusional brother is trying to tell you he'll find a solution to this. Allow me to put an end to such tantalizing hope by assuring you, there is none. The arrangement is simple, Daniel – you come with me, do whatever I say, join me as the son and pupil you were always meant to be, and your sister lives. Refuse, and the nanobots will finish her in... hmm... Actually, I don't know how long it takes. It might be quick and painless, or it might be slow. I wonder how much it'll hurt. I've never seen them used like this before. Perhaps we should find out..."

"Okay, I get it!" I could tell Danny was genuinely afraid. "Let's just get it over with."

"You're going to have to adjust that attitude, young man. But I agree. It's time we headed home. Don't bother with packing, you won't be needing anything."

"Fine, let's go," Danny said grudgingly.

 _Yes, just go. Now_ , I urged them, my arms sticking with sweat to the wall.

Jazz seemed on the verge of breaking down. "Can't... can't we at least say good-bye?"

"Why would you do that? You're coming with us."

"What?" Danny and his sister said at the same time, obviously as surprised by that announcement as I was. Danny added, "That wasn't part of the deal."

"I never said it wasn't," Vlad said in a tone that almost made me set the wall on fire.

"If I go, she stays," Danny insisted.

"So she can call your parents or your little friends for help the minute she's alone? How stupid do you think I am?"

"How much time do you have?" Danny asked sardonically.

"This is your last warning about the attitude, Daniel. We're all taking a little trip. Hers ends in the Ghost Zone on the other side of my portal in Wisconsin. By the time you make it back here and are able to tell anyone whatever story you please to explain your temporary and your brother's permanent disappearance, we'll be long gone."

"What if I don't feel like going with you?" Jazz asked defiantly.

"Then your brother gets to watch the nanobots eat you from the inside out."

"You're not taking her anywhere," said Danny.

"If you prefer the alternative, I won't argue," Vlad said simply.

"Jazz..." I couldn't see any way around this new condition, and from the sound of it, Danny couldn't, either.

"I don't care, Danny."

"Well, I do."

"Which is why you're both going to do as I say and come along."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. I wondered if Danny was glaring at him, weighing his chances of pulling off our stunt now, calculating if it was time to make our move (it's what I would've done). Finally, Danny said, "Do what he says, Jazz."

Jazz scoffed at his decision. "No way am I gonna..."

"Just do it! It's the only way I can save you!"

Jazz sounded confused, though. "Danny..."

" _Please..._ "

There was no sign Vlad had figured out something was up, but I started to wonder if the pause that followed meant Jazz did. The next thing I heard was her saying casually, "Fine. Two against one? I'll take those odds."

I heard her grunt before Vlad said, "You two can just keep your distance from each other." He must have grabbed her and pulled her away from her brother.

"Get your hands off her, or I'm not going anywhere," Danny warned him.

"Relax, Daniel." I heard Jazz snarl, at Vlad, I assumed, as he let her go. "Now, let's be off."

"Yeah, let's," Danny said before there was a shuffling of movement and one set of footsteps. Were they actually leaving? What was I supposed to do then? _Stick with the plan, Korra_ , I warned myself.

"Are we allowed to talk?" Jazz asked bitterly.

"What's he care?" Danny replied. "It's not like we can KORRA!"

I'd been ready to move the instant I heard the signal. I made the doorway in one sprint. Once I turned to face the other room, the first thing I saw was a young woman landing on her stomach on the floor near me with a grunt of pain, as if she'd been thrown from across the room. I had a fraction of a second to take in the sight of Danny floating above some creature with blue skin, fiery red eyes, and a long white cape before Danny turned his back on me, rose almost to the ceiling, and raised his arms. A green bubble instantly appeared around Danny, the girl, and me, leaving the ghost who must be Vlad on the other side. "Do it, Korra!" Danny shouted without looking at me. "Hurry!"

"What's the meaning of this?" Vlad sounded genuinely confused, a little angry but not much. "What do you think you're doing?" He just then seemed to notice me. "Who is that?"

Jazz had quickly gotten to her feet, facing me. "What's going on here?" I ran up to her. "Who are you?"

"My name's Korra. I'm here to help you." I didn't know what Danny was doing, but I assumed we didn't have time for long explanations.

"How did she get here?!" Vlad looked and sounded truly shocked.

"Where did you come from?" Jazz asked me.

"There's no time to explain," I told her. "I know what's going on, and I can help. I can get those nanobot things out of you."

"What kind of game do you think you're playing, Daniel?" Vlad asked Danny.

"Trust her, Jazz!" Danny called to her, still without looking at us. "Whatever you have to do, Korra, do it now!"

"I warned you about this, Daniel," Vlad said a low but menacing tone. "Less than five minutes, and you already broke one of my rules." Through the translucent green wall surrounding us, I saw a bright aura form around his right fist. He shot an energy blast just like I'd seen Danny and Walker use at the bubble. Danny groaned as if the blast caused him strain, even though it hit nowhere near him. I realized he'd put some kind of shield up to protect us. "What do you plan to do, keep this up forever? Even if you could, that won't do your sister any good." Vlad held up his other hand – through the green shield, I could see he was holding something but not what it looked like, although I could easily guess what it must be. "You two must still think I'm bluffing. Well, have it your way!" He pushed a button in his hand, then threw the device aside, its purpose served.

"No!" Danny yelled.

Jazz gasped before crossing her arms across her stomach in pain. I grabbed her shoulders as she doubled over. "You can really get these things out?" she said before crying out as if she'd been burned.

"Yes."

"Then do it! Aaah!" She moaned as she started quivering in my arms. Her knees gave way, so I lowered her to the floor on her back.

I tried to block out what was going on. I had to stay calm and focused. "Try to relax, hold still, and don't fight me," I managed to say in a steady voice.

"Just do it," she said in between more groans as she clutched her chest. I had to straighten out her arms, though – it would be easier to work that way.

Now that I had her in front of me, the danger of what I was planning to do hit me hard. I tried to think of the safest way to pull tiny pieces of metal out of the human body. Not through the digestive system and mouth like Suyin had done with me – they would tear her stomach and throat apart. It had to be a place far from any vital organs. I chose the inner crook of the arm nearest me (her right), where the veins could be seen and felt through the skin, and pushed her sleeve up – it seemed the least of all possible evils. Keep in mind, this all went through my head at lightning speed.

"It's gonna hurt," I warned her.

"But it won't kill me?"

"No."

"Do whatever you have to do. I can take it, just do it now!"

"Now, Korra!" Danny cried.

"What are you up to?" Vlad asked, but like he was curious, not worried.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and went to work. One good thing about them being solid – they were easier to sense than the drops of poison. I could sense them floating in her blood, moving through her veins, her arteries, her heart – the same paths Katara had taught me when I'd learned to heal.

I started by slowly moving my right hand over her chest, not trying to move the metal anywhere in particular, just to see how easily it moved, if at all. It obeyed me instantly. The girl moaned louder – she could obviously feel the motion. If they were hurting her already, me moving them where they didn't want to go would hurt more, but I couldn't think about that. I forgot that I was working on a human being, that I was causing someone pain, that a life was on the line. All I remembered was that I must move this metal.

I raised my hands and exerted my influence over the metal beneath the skin, reaching for it through the thin barrier of flesh and blood. Over and over again, I ran the fingers of both hands through the air just above the body, pulling the metal along. Going slowly wouldn't have helped anything, so I moved it as fast as I could. It was like the pieces had a mind of their own – I had to pull harder whenever they resisted me. I heard the groans of pain increase when I did this, but they meant nothing. Inch by inch, I moved the pieces through the paths I knew so well, careful not to let them tear through the thin walls of the veins and arteries but always pushing them forward, farther down the long, winding path to the right elbow.

The greatest difficulty was getting them through the heart, but I had no choice. Pieces in certain places had to go there before they could transfer to a path that led to the spot I wanted. When I pushed a group through the heart (which I had to do slowly to stop from damaging its walls), she outright screamed, but I heard it from a distance, like an echo that had nothing to do with me. I never stopped, never hesitated, never wavered, just focused on moving the metal, piece by piece, drop by drop, to the target. There was so much of it, but it obeyed me like any metal, moving where I willed it – through the chest, up to the shoulder, down the arm to the exit point.

I heard the moaning grow louder as the majority of the metal accumulated in the spot in the crook of the arm. There was still more to bring here, but the area couldn't hold anymore or I would cause a blood clot. With my left hand, I continued to move the remaining metal down the path; with my right, I began pulling it up, in sync with my rhythmic breathing, through the wall of the vein and the pores of the skin into the air outside the body. I felt the microscopic little tears each piece left as it broke through, but they were of no concern to me. The metal came out in a thin stream of particles of wet, gray sand tinted with drops of blood. Her breathing sped up and her sobs grew louder as they penetrated the skin, but it didn't matter. Little by little, with each breath, I drained the bloodstream of the stuff. Push and pull, up and out, farther, farther, farther.

I had no idea how much time was passing, but I did notice when I sensed very little metal left in the blood. I finished drawing out what I'd brought to the inner elbow, then moved my hands back over the trunk, neck, head, and limbs. There was still some left, mostly in the head. I moved it all down to the heart, the shoulder, the arm, the elbow, out.

The moans of pain I'd been hearing had significantly decreased, broken by many deep breaths and sighs of relief. I took no notice of them beyond being aware of their existence. I started back at the ankles and worked my way up, once again sensing stray pieces that had to be moved to the exit point. I didn't count how many times I had to do this, how often my hands traveled over the same places. I only thought of doing it, focused on moving the metal until, finally, I could sense no more. The only injury I could detect was the trickle of blood now running out of the crook of her right arm; other than that, she was safe.

I heaved a deep sigh, returning my mind to full awareness of my surroundings and situation. "They're out!" I called out to Danny and my patient. "She's safe! They're all out!"

The two of them later told me that Vlad hadn't realized what I was doing at first, having no idea what I was or what I could do. When I started working, he just stood there, grinning smugly as if Danny watching his sister die would be an excellent show. When he noticed how intently I was focused on his victim, his enthusiasm turned back into a frown of confusion. Apparently, he kept asking Danny, "What is she doing? What's happening? What's going on over there? What is this?" and the like, but Danny never said anything, as focused on keeping the shield up as I'd been on my Metalbending.

Despite how the shield obscured Vlad's view of us, he was able to see when I started pulling the metal out. He gasped in shock at the sight, obviously never considering such a thing was possible. "What in the...? Impossible! This can't be! How is she...?" But he didn't let his surprise enthrall him for long. As soon as he realized I was removing the only leverage he had on Danny, he began firing nonstop at the barrier. It took all of Danny's strength to keep his shield up. It shrank in size but never faltered – not a single attack made it through or accomplished anything but making Vlad more frustrated. He even screamed, "No... NO!", but it had no effect on Danny or me.

The first thing I heard when I mentally returned to the outside world was Vlad wailing, "NOOO! You can't do this! You've ruined everything! You'll pay for this!"

He was still shooting a barrage of blasts at the green bubble protecting us. Danny, straining to keep it up, turned back to us and yelled, "She's okay?"

"She's fine!" I yelled back over the cacophony of energy blasts. "It's over!"

Danny growled through his teeth as his eyes flared up with that green light. He turned around and shot a blast of his own with both hands in the very same instant the bubble around us vanished. Vlad, however, must have been expecting it, because he had stopped firing to shield himself with his own red barrier. Then I heard Danny say, "I am gonna _kill_ you!" before he lunged forward. The two of them collided, the impact sending them back towards the opposite wall, but they disappeared before they reached it.

In the sudden silence immediately after they left, I noticed several details about the room – a couch knocked on its back, a table lying on it side, books and a bunch of other stuff scattered on the floor. Other than that mess, the room looked undamaged – no holes in the walls or something on fire or anything. Nothing to distract me for more than a second from the young woman lying in front of me, sweating and trying to catch her breath. "Relax," I told her. "You'll be fine."

As her breathing started to slow down to normal, she whispered, "You really... got them all out?"

"Every one of them," I assured her. "You're going to be okay." But even though her life was no longer in danger, my job wasn't done. Her arm was still bleeding where I'd pulled them out – not extremely dangerously but too much to be left alone. I pressed my hand over the wound. "You're hurt, but I can fix it. I just need some water."

With her left hand, she reached up and pulled off the blue headband she was wearing, then, pushing my hand away, pressed it over the wound. "Where's Danny?" she asked in an impressively steady voice.

"I don't know, they flew off."

"I've gotta find him," she said, closing her eyes tight and trying to push herself up. As soon as she tried putting pressure on her elbow, she groaned in pain.

I held her left shoulder to steady her. "You can't go anywhere like this."

Jazz didn't argue with that. "Please, Vlad's gone completely crazy, I don't know what he's gonna do. You have to stop him."

"I will, just as soon as I heal you."

"I'm fine, go help my brother."

Not that I didn't expect to hear that, but I judged she needed my help more than Danny did at the moment, and I knew, no matter how things were going for him, that he'd want me to take care of her first. "I will, just let me..."

Jazz managed to sit up more. "It can wait."

"It won't take much time, I just..."

"You can help me when you get back. I won't do anything stupid, I promise. I'll be okay for a few minutes."

"I can't leave you like this!"

"Forget about me! Go help my brother!"

There was no way she would let me help her until she knew her brother was safe. Not wanting to waste any more time arguing with her, I stood up and said, "Okay. I'll be right back," then ran for the door.


	7. A Battle

Outside, I saw that night had already fallen here, and the air felt warm and moist like the Earth Kingdom in late spring. Nobody was in sight, but I only had to run a few yards down the street, following the sounds of a vicious fight, before I saw them. It was a good thing Danny had warned me about Vlad's particular power, or I would have thought I was hallucinating when I saw four of him surrounding the young boy with murder in his eye, all of them floating several feet above the ground.

Screaming in fury, Danny shot green energy blasts at two of his opponents, causing them to evaporate into thin air. A third disappeared on his own, I assumed turning invisible or intangible. As a blue aura surrounded him, Danny shot a blue stream of energy at the last, encasing him in a block of ice just like that dark spirit back in the Ghost Zone. Danny flew at him, but before Danny could reach him or he could hit the ground, Vlad somehow broke out of the ice and fired his own red energy blast at Danny.

Danny managed to dodge two shots before one connected, sending him crashing into the ground. He was up almost instantly, sending Vlad flying back with a punch in the same motion. As I ran closer, they struggled in midair, dodging and exchanging blows, until Vlad managed to grab Danny by the throat and threw him into the ground again. Danny got right to his feet and fired another beam of ice at Vlad with both hands, but he dodged it, then vanished. I stopped where I was and stood still, on my guard, waiting to see where he would turn up next.

Firing energy blasts randomly in all directions, Danny yelled, "Show yourself!" With a grunt of pain as one shot apparently hit him, Vlad reappeared a few away, not floating or flying but standing on the ground. Danny flew straight at him, and, in spite of what I'd seen already, I still gasped as, just as Danny reached him, the man seemed to split in two. Both of them grabbed Danny's arms, while another appeared in front of him.

The Vlad who had just turned visible said, "You brought this upon yourself, Daniel," before aiming his fist at Danny and firing what looked like red lightning right at his chest. Wreathed in a red aura, Danny screamed in pain, shuddering and struggling against the two that held him but unable to break free. The third Vlad didn't move but stayed in that position, firing a steady stream of electricity at his victim.

Up until then, I'd been trying to get as close as possible, stay out of the line of fire, and look for an opening where I could attack in a way I knew would help Danny. My rage at the horrific image I was seeing now drove me to make my first move. With a furious cry, I ran towards them, shooting flames at everyone but Danny. The two holding him were hit and disintegrated, dropping Danny to the ground. It was probably a good thing I'd seen him transform earlier, or I might've gotten distracted by seeing it now for the first time. The third Vlad stopped his attack and put up a red shield in time to protect himself from the fire, but that didn't stop my blast of air from pushing him back several yards.

I ran up next to the now-human Danny, who was half-lying, half-sitting on the ground, rubbing his head and moaning in pain. I didn't blame him. I didn't have time to ask if he was okay, though, with all my concentration focused on my opponent. "You!" Vlad shouted as he flew back towards me. I managed to time it just right so that a pillar of earth shot up right under him and knocked him away before he knew it was coming. As I lowered the rock back into place, he came back down and landed in front of the spot, rubbing his chin, stunned by the blow. "You're not a ghost. How are you doing this?" he asked me in shock.

I responded by shooting more fire at him, but he either dodged it all or turned intangible and then back again. He tried firing at me, but I raised a wall of rock in front of me. When I lowered it, he was staring at me in an equal mixture of frustration and wonder. I sent a shockwave through the ground towards him, which he easily floated up to avoid, but his focus on me caused him to miss the rock the shockwave sent falling on top of him. It looked like it had crushed him, but he walked right through it and stood in front of it, perfectly unharmed.

"You certainly know an interesting array of tricks," he calmly observed. "What else can you do?" He shot another red blast at me, but I cartwheeled away and dodged the next barrage of blasts Airbender-style, working my way behind him (I was faster than he was) and, before he could turn around, hitting him with a strong burst of air. He was knocked off his feet before he came to a halt several yards away. Not giving him time to recover, I shot one fireball after another at him, kicking up a storm of dust and smoke.

When I finally stopped and the smoke cleared, Vlad was standing behind a red sphere of energy, unharmed but with the edges of his cape smoking, showing at least some of my shots had connected. "Amazing. I've never seen power like this," he said in awe.

I tried pulling two slabs of rock up from the street next to him, crushing him between them, but he simply floated right up out of them and landed calmly back on the ground. As I stood there with two fire daggers burning in my hands, trying to think of something I hadn't tried yet, he asked, "What _are_ you?"

Talking might buy me some time to think. Not dropping my guard, I proudly answered, "I'm Avatar Korra, master of all four elements – Earth, Fire, Air, and Water!" That must have been thorough enough.

To my surprise, Vlad crossed his arms and, grinning in amusement, said, as if repressing a laugh, "And Heart?" What? Hadn't Danny said something like that earlier? In the pause as I tried to remember, he added, "Sorry, couldn't resist." He instantly fired another blast at me, but I easily spun away from it, creating a funnel of air in the same motion that I shot in his direction. He vanished effortlessly – when he reappeared, before he could move, I crouched down and brought both my hands together, surrounding him in a circle of fire.

Instead of turning intangible, Vlad stood calmly behind the short wall of flames smiling like a scientist in a laboratory who's just made a remarkable new discovery. "Elemental powers. Classic but formidable. How did someone like you end up in our humble world? Oh, the things one could do here with powers like yours... hmm... I wonder..."

I could tell Vlad was planning something, and I braced myself for whatever his next move might be. Far to my left, I heard Danny gasp and say, "Korra, watch out!" It was less than a second later that Vlad disappeared with a disturbing laugh. I felt something like a rush of cold air hit me, then, all of a sudden, my entire body started tingling from head to toe, right before I went numb and everything turned black.

It was the most disorienting sensation I'd ever experienced, as if I'd been flung right out of my own body but hadn't gone anywhere. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't see or hear anything. I was completely disconnected from my body and the world. But I sensed something... another presence within me. Something dark. Something evil. Full of wrath, frustration, fear, despair, lust, envy, loneliness, and an all-consuming obsession. I hated it, I tried to push it away, but it refused to let me go. As I fought against it, I felt something else rise up: confusion. Something was happening that shouldn't be. _"What is this...?"_

That was the last thing I felt before, out of nowhere, I sensed yet another presence overtaking me. I felt a wave of fear and anger but also compassion, strength, courage, determination, honor. As the second presence struggled with the first, forcing it away from me, I felt awareness of different parts of my body return one by one.

Finally, with a terrible rush like I'd fallen a hundred feet in half a second, they were gone. My body was back in my control, my senses all working again. I stumbled forward, unable to get my balance, but two hands caught my shoulders and held me up as I gasped for breath, pressing my hand to my forehead.

I heard Danny, who was obviously the one who caught me, ask, "Korra, you okay?!"

Steadying my breath, I gasped, "What... what happened?"

"He..." Danny hesitated, and I could tell by his tone that I wasn't going to like the answer. "He tried to take over your body."

"He _what_?!"

As I raised my head, both my fists now ablaze with flame, the first thing I saw was Vlad, several yards right in front of me, also breathing hard and clutching his head. I heard him say, "Incredible... I've never sensed power like that before. What _was_ that...?" He raised his face towards me, quickly regaining his composure. "You're full of surprises, aren't you, my dear? Shame Daniel talked you into taking his side first..."

In hindsight, it was fortunate Vlad didn't give me any time to dwell on what he tried to do to me. My rage hadn't even finished building up before I saw Danny, back in his black and white ghost form, dart in front of me. The green wall surrounded us just as a blast from Vlad's fist shot towards us, exploding against the shield. It all happened so fast that, had I blinked, I would have had no idea how Danny and I ended up behind another shield of his while Vlad bombarded us with blasts of energy, laughing in between shots. "Stalling for time, are we? If you insist..."

He continued to fire blasts at the barrier, Danny grunting and straining under each one. That last attack before I'd joined in must have really taken a lot out of him. Vlad clearly had no intention of letting his rival get away easily. "I hope you have a better plan than this, Daniel!"

I stepped next to Danny as the green dome around us shrank a little. "We can't hide under here forever!" I said, keeping my eyes on our attacker and punching my fist in my palm. "Let's fight!"

"I don't know if I can..." Danny said in a strained voice but keeping his arms raised. "Wish I had some of our weapons..." It looked like it took every ounce of his strength to keep the shield up; he couldn't even turn to look at me once while we were under there. I'd been right – he was in bad shape, and it was all the more frightening to see because I hadn't expected it. I hadn't thought about how much more powerful than Danny someone with twenty years more experience would be...

Still, I'd seen enough to know that Danny was pretty powerful himself, even without weapons. Thinking back to the fights I'd seen him in earlier made me ask, "Can't you use that sound attack I saw you use in the Ghost Zone?"

I could tell it took Danny a lot of effort to answer me. "I do that, I'll hold him off for about ten seconds, then I'll be out of power, and we'll both be doomed." Vlad tried flying above us and diving at the shield like a cannonball. He didn't break through, but I felt the ground shake, and the shudder that went through the dome seemed to go through Danny as well. "I can't keep this up much longer. Got any ideas?"

I looked around us, trying to come up with a strategy, searching for something, anything I could use to help us, but everything I saw somehow reminded me how easily this ghost could escape anything I threw at him. "No," I admitted, shaking with frustration and outrage at what Vlad had tried to do to me, furious that I couldn't think of a way to fight back. "I don't know what your sister expected me to do. I can't fight something I can't touch."

Danny groaned as Vlad fired one long, continuous blast at us, causing the dome to ripple like water. "Got any other super Avatar powers you haven't mentioned yet?" Danny finally managed to ask.

"Bending is only good against humans. Machines." Four of Vlad were shooting at us now from different directions. I rotated so that Danny and I were back to back. "Things you can hit with rocks and fire."

"I thought you had spirits in your world, too."

"No spirits I've ever met fought like this."

"Don't you have some way to fight spirits in _your_ world?"

I started to answer, "Sure, I...", but my mind turned mid-thought. What I'd been about to say gave me an idea. The one way I knew how to fight powerful dark spirits... No, it was crazy – why should ghosts in this world be anything like spirits in mine? There was no reason to think it would work the same way... But earlier, hadn't Danny and I marveled at how similar ghosts from the Ghost Zone were to spirits from the Spirit World? Maybe ghosts _would_ respond the same way...

Danny got tired of waiting for me. "What? What is it?"

He knew ghosts better than I did – I'd let him decide if it was worth a try. "I do know this one trick for fighting powerful dark spirits in my world. But I don't know if it'll work on ghosts. Let alone something half-human."

"Dark spirits?" Danny repeated. "I'd say he qualifies, wouldn't you?"

"If you say so." I turned around. "I need a large body of water."

"Water?" Danny contemplated my request for a second. "Okay, grab hold and hang on. We're gonna have to make this fast."

I put my arms around his shoulders from behind and braced myself, pretty sure I knew where this was going. Danny waited until one of our attackers circled in front of him, then, in one move, dropped the shield, fired an energy blast at him with both hands, turned us both intangible, and shot up from the ground like a geyser, me clinging to his back for dear life. I'm not ashamed of how I yelled as we took off (the sudden motion would have been shocking enough even if we hadn't been under attack from all sides), but we escaped unharmed. I felt the weight of tangibility return as Danny changed direction and sped away like an arrow to wherever we were going.

Never having flown like this before (Tenzin had adamantly refused all my requests to try such a thing when I was a child), at first, I was afraid to move a muscle. The sound of something rushing through the air behind us made me force myself to turn my head. At least we only had one pursuer (why divide yourself when you only had one target to chase?). "We've got company!" I yelled.

"Hold tight!" was all Danny yelled back before he turned over, leaving me dangling underneath him, clinging to his shoulders, screaming from the shock of my new position, as he fired two shots at Vlad. Vlad dodged them both, but the action slowed his progress a little. I screamed again as Danny turned back over, placing me on his back again.

Once I got my breath, I said, "A little warning would have been nice!"

"Fine, next time I'll just let him catch us!"

I groaned and mumbled, "I miss my glider," before it was Danny's turn to dodge the shots coming at us from behind. He let Vlad gain on us for a few seconds before turning us both invisible, then angling up. Once Vlad had passed underneath us, still going in the direction we'd been heading, Danny turned around, flying in the completely opposite direction.

Once Danny let us turn visible again, I decided it was safe to speak. "Good trick!"

Danny, however, said, "He'll see through it in no time, but it'll buy us a few seconds!"

It wasn't long before I noticed the familiar reflection of the stars and moon on the ground up ahead. Almost as soon as I spotted it, Danny started descending. We landed on a waterfront lined with wooden docks, facing a line of anchored boats, surrounded by warehouses.

Our feet had barely touched the shore when Danny said, "Will this do?" Almost instantly, a figure rose through the dock in front of us, hovering above it, the glow surrounding it fading to reveal a short, stout, round-faced man. He started to yell something at us that sounded like, "BEWA-", but Danny screamed, "Not NOW!", and shot an energy blast right at him. He disappeared, but Danny was still gritting his teeth, his eyes narrowed in frustration, until we heard something speeding towards us from out of the sky, causing us both to turn at the same time. Danny had guessed right – Vlad must not have gone very far before he realized he'd find us if he went the opposite way. He hadn't even bothered to turn invisible.

I turned my back completely on the water and took up a defensive stance, never taking my eyes off Vlad. "Get clear," I warned Danny. "Stay out of sight, and stay far away from me, no matter what." He didn't ask for details but flew into the shadow of the nearest warehouse and, with his back against its wall, turned invisible.

Fortunately, Vlad must have been too far away to see which way Danny went in the dark. Once he was close enough that I could make out his glare fixed solely in my direction, I shot two streams of flame at him. He easily swerved away from them and fired back. I somersaulted to the right, careful not to get farther away from the water, letting loose with a blast of air as I righted myself. After Vlad dodged that attack, he asked, "Where's Daniel?"

I didn't answer, unless you count the fireballs I shot at him. They were a fraction too high, and he flew down to escape them – exactly as I'd hoped. If I'd aimed at him, he would have shielded himself or turned intangible, but by aiming just above him, I got him to gradually fly lower as he dodged the shots, until he finally landed on the ground and fired a blast of red energy directly at my face. I raised a wall of rock out of the ground in front of the dock and ducked as the blast shattered it instead of my head.

When I rose, Vlad was laughing at me. "It will take more than your elemental tricks to intimidate me, young lady..."

He was close enough now, partly distracted, and confident I posed no threat. As soon as he started talking, with one motion, I pulled a huge stream of water up from behind me and struck him with the same move that won my last complete Pro-Bending match. I did catch him off guard and, before he could turn intangible, was able to freeze the water around him. I knew it would only hold him for a second, but that was all I needed.

In one second, I had him firmly encased in a thick layer of ice. In the next, I had more streams of water rising from behind me and surrounding him. Vlad easily turned intangible and flew forward out of the chunk of ice, but he stopped within the ribbons of water flowing through the air around him, still laughing. "I would have thought you were too smart to think that could hold me."

I didn't respond – I was too busy concentrating. I felt the familiar build up and flow of energy as I always did when I used this move. His tone changed as the water started to glow. "What is this?" I heard him wonder. "What's going on here? Hey... ah!" A distant part of my mind judged the technique must be having some effect on him, but I didn't have the freedom to observe further. I had to focus.

The ribbons of water were fully aglow now. Vlad's gasps and grunts gave way to one long, continuous scream of terror – could he sense what I was doing? He seemed immobilized inside the watery net. I could feel the positive and negative energy begin to separate, ready to be rejoined in their proper ratio. The screams grew louder. Even though my eyes were open, I couldn't focus on the outside world very much, but I could make out the figure of a man within the energized water. He seemed to be dividing in two, or something transparent but human-shaped was separating from him, starting at the head and the break spreading slowly down his neck and shoulders. They resisted the separation, coming back together, but then they would start to pull apart again.

I don't know if they were the first words he spoke, but the first words I heard were, "Stop! Please! It's agonizing! Please, stop it! I'll do anything! Just stop! I can't stand the pain!"

I instinctively released my control and dropped my hands, horrified by what I was seeing and hearing. I'd never seen that move cause spirits pain before – I hadn't meant to hurt him like that at all! The water splashed to the ground, and Vlad fell to his knees, clutching his throat and gasping for breath. Danny reappeared in the same spot he'd vanished and flew next to me. "What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know," I confessed.

Both of us kept our eyes on Vlad. He rose slowly to his feet and said, "That was close," then raised his head, grinning as smugly as ever. "I almost thought you'd be too smart to fall for _that_."

I growled through my clenched teeth, furious at myself. It was a trick! I could feel an eruption of flame ready to burst from my fists, but he beat me to it, rising into the air and firing one final shot, not at me but at Danny. It looked like Danny tried to raise a small green wall in front of him to block it, but he wasn't quite fast enough this time, and the blast knocked him down. I stepped in front of him and raised two fire daggers before me, but Vlad didn't attack again. He said nonchalantly, "You should have chosen your allies more wisely, Avatar Korra," then drifted away, saluting me with two fingers, before vanishing from sight.

I knelt down beside Danny. "You all right?" I asked.

"I'll be fine." He groaned in pain as he tried to stand up, and I pushed his shoulder down.

"Wait a second," I said, turning to the bay behind us. With a swoop of my arm, I pulled a stream of water up and over to us.

"What are you... uh..." Danny's question dissolved in nervous confusion as I placed the water against his chest with both my hands, sensing his heart rate speed up at the same time (boys...). He didn't say another word while I knelt there, the water glowing as I spread my energy throughout his body, feeling his numerous injuries repair themselves under my influence.

When I was done, I flung the water back in the bay. "Better?" I asked.

"Much better," Danny whispered in disbelief as he felt his chest, his shoulder, the back of his neck. "I feel great."

"That was the idea," I said with a grin as I pulled him to his feet, then looked up around us. "Where did Plasmius go?"

Danny folded his arms and scowled. "Probably home to his mansion in Wisconsin, or his mansion in Colorado, or some other mansion who-knows-where to plan his next move. What did you do to him anyway?"

"It's a technique for healing dark spirits," I explained. "In my world, it purges the darkness from them. Corrects the imbalance that makes them want to attack you so they're no longer a threat."

"But with him, it looked like you were... you were..."

Danny couldn't seem to find a way to describe it, so I suggested, "Like I was separating his spirit from his body."

"Or separating his ghost half from him."

That made sense, but I didn't really care at the moment. "I can't believe I let him get away! I shouldn't have stopped. If only I'd kept going..." I was a good thing I said that, because it distracted me from my anger at myself as I realized I had no idea what _would_ have been the result if I'd been able to finish the ritual, since it clearly didn't have quite the same effect on him that it had on spirits. "I wonder what would have happened if I'd been able to remove his ghost half entirely."

Danny sighed and, suddenly looking downcast, said, almost mournfully, "You'd be surprised," then added, in a different tone, "At least you scared him away. Now that he knows you can do that, he'll stay as far away from you as he can. How's Jazz?"

"She'll be fine," I assured him. "But we should get back to your house now. I still need to heal her."

"Okay, let's go." I let Danny scoop me into his arms again, and we rose into the air. I half expected Vlad to be waiting to ambush us, but it looked like he really had retreated. Danny obviously had no such worries – his only concern now was for his sister. "You sure Jazz is all right?"

"I can tell you she has no more metal left in her bloodstream, and, aside from a cut in her arm, she was completely safe when I left her."

He sighed deeply, and I felt a load of tension leave his shoulders. "I can't thank you enough, Korra."

"Don't mention it."

"But you risked your life for us, and I barely know you..."

I had to laugh at that. "Really? Seems to me like we know _everything_ about each other." That got a weak grin out of Danny. "Look, this kind of thing is what I'm supposed to do. Don't worry about me."

Danny obviously ignored that, because he said next, "I don't know what we would've done without you."

"You would've thought of something," I told him sincerely. "I've seen what you can do." That reminded me... "By the way, why couldn't you use that sound attack you used on Walker against Plasmius? Looked pretty effective to me."

Danny didn't answer me right away. "Okay, how do I put this? My Ghostly Wail's my most powerful attack. It's pretty much a one-hit-kill. It's strong enough that, when I use it, just about everyone except Vlad goes down for the count. In fact, I can only use it if I know for sure it'll put them down for the count because it completely drains me. After I use it, I almost always run out of power and change back to my human form. That probably sounds useless to you, doesn't it? It's my strongest power, I just have to be really careful how I use it. It's hard to explain..."

"So when you use it, you're at your most powerful but also your most vulnerable?"

"Okay, I guess it's not hard to explain."


End file.
